Evaluation of Different Forage Type Varieties of Pigeon Pea (Cajanus cajan) in Central Luzon

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is a drought-tolerant dual-purpose crop primarily grown as grain crop for human consumption. The ability of pigeon pea to produce economic yields under moisturedeficient soils makes it as an ideal crop to integrate in the crop-livestock farming for production of high-quality fodder. Four pigeon pea forage-type variety of the International Crop Research Institute for the SemiArid Tropics (ICRISAT), namely: ICPL 87119, ICPL 13092, ICP 7035, and ICPL 20092, were planted to identify the best variety that is suitable under Central Luzon agro-climatic conditions. A total of 240 plants per variety were planted with 0.5 m x 0.75 m planting distance. The experiment plots were laidout using Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications at the Central Luzon State University. The varieties were evaluated by measuring the growth performance, herbage yield, dry matter yield, and disease tolerance. Results showed significant variations in the survival rate of the different varieties. All varieties exhibited less than 85% survival rate. Among the varieties, ICP 7035 produced the highest herbage yield per hectare of 8.9 tons which was 24.71%, 58.42%, and 68.53% higher compared to ICPL 87119, ICPL 20092, and ICPL 13092, respectively.  Likewise, ICP 7035 showed the highest performance in all agronomic parameters measured except leaf to stem ratio. High leaf to stem ratio of 3.18:1 was observed from ICPL 20092.  However, ICPL 20092 was severely infested by mites (98%), while the rest were found to be resistant to mite infestation.