Participatory Evaluation of Some Selected Forage Species in Afar Regional State, Ethiopia: In the Case of Koneba and Telalak Districts

This experiment was conducted with the objective of evaluating the on-farm productivity of the selected improved forage species and assessing pastoralists’ perception on the selected forage species and assessing pastoralist criteria for selecting forage species as livestock feed. Accordingly, the biomass yield of Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense) was significantly higher than all the grass species in both Koneba (8.24 t/ha) and Telalak (7.79 t/ha) districts followed by Chloris gayana. The number of tillers/plant for C. gayana were significantly higher than the other species in both Koneba (27.45 tillers/plant) and Telalak (20.41 tillers/plant). C. gayana and S. sudanese showed significantly higher vigor score than the other grass types. C. gayana (5.00), Panicum coloratum (4.75) and Panicum antidotale (4.25) showed significantly higher (0.05) plot cover sore. C. gayana, S. sudanense and P. antidotale were reached their 50% flowering stage earlier than the other grasses. According to the pastoralist perception C. gayana was selected first followed by P. antidotale for their palatability, early maturity, drought tolerance and regeneration capacity. C. gayana and P. antidotale showed higher vegetational and perceptional performance; therefore, these grasses should be tested in different areas and disseminated to the community by creating awareness about proper management system.