Browsing by Author "Bogdan, A.V."
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Item The Breeding Behavior of Molasses Grass in Kenya(1960/1961) Bogdan, A.V.; Grassland Research Station, Department of Agriculture, Kitale, KenyaIn 1954 the comparison and selection of varieties of Molasses grass (Melin is minutiflora Beauv.) suitable for leys was undertaken at the Grassland Research Station, Kitale. This type of work necessitates a certain knowledge of the breeding behavior of the species concerned and as no information could be found in the literature a study of progeny lines was Undertaken to find out whether Molasses grasses are cross-pollinated or self-fertile. Four distinct varieties were chosen for this study. They differed in general habit, and in such characters as the nature of the hairs on the leaf sheaths close to the nodes, the colour of the leaves, the hairiness of the spikelets, the length of the awns, and other features. For the purpose of strain building, the fact that Molasses grass is not a cross-pollinatzd species indicates that strains can be developed from single selected plants, and it also indicates that varieties can be grown for seed without the need for isolation, as far as cross pollination is concerned. A revision of the M. minutiflora complex and its affinities, including observations on progeny lines, is required before the taxonomy of this group can be clearly resolved.Item Browse plants of Kenya with special reference to those occurring in South Baringo(1958) Bogdan, A.V.; Dougall, H.W.; Department of Agriculture"It is a humbling fact for grass pasture experts to realize that probably more animals feed on shrubs and trees, or on associations in which shrubs and trees play an Important part, than on true grass or grass-legume pastures, short and tall grass ranges and steppes." This introductory sentence to "The Use and Misuse of Shrubs and Trees as Fodder" (1947) is almost certainly applicable to most semi-arid and arid parts of Kenya inhabited by pastoral trites and their livestock; it is particularly relevant to the South Baringo District, where most of the material described in this paper was collected. The southern part of the Baringo District is believed to be potential perennial grass-woodland country, but at the present time the grass cover is almost completely destroyed and the ground is exposed to such an extent that even during rainy seasons the leaves, bark and pods of trees and shrubs, together with the available herbs, provide the bulk of the diet of the ruminant and of other livestock.Item Common Acacias of Kenya(1958) Brenan, J.P.M.; Edmondson, R.N.; Koros, S.L.; Dougall, H.W.; Bogdan, A.V.; Thomas, D.B.A number of species of Acacia are very prominent in the woody vegetation of Kenya, and these cover large areas either in pure stands or in mixture with other shrubs and trees. Some of them form thickets and either make grazing impossible or greatly reduce the grazing capacity of land. There are also some useful species which have edible pods and leaves. Forty-three species .of Acacia have been recorded in Kenya. As this pamphlet is mainly intended for the use of those engaged in bush control and pasture management, only the twenty-four commonest species are described and included in the key, thus making the use of the key easy. The remaining species are just mentioned in the index. The botanical names of our acacias are taken from the Flora of Tropical East Africa, Leguminosae, subfamily Mimosoideae, by J. P. M. Brenan, published in 1959, and wrong names that were previously used for some species have now been corrected. The local names are after E. Battiscombe, R. N. Edmondson, S. L. Koros, D. J. Pratt, and D. B. Thomas. Information on the reaction to arboricides is based mainly on a summary by G. W. Ivens in Tropical Agriculture, Vol. 35, 1958, and information on the chemical composition is from "Browse Plants of Kenya" by H. W. Dougall and A. V. Bogdan, East African Agricultural Journal, April, 1958.Item The Depth of Planting Rhodes Grass Seed(1960/1961) Bogdan, A.V.; Grassland Research Station, KitaleThe establishment of Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) under field conditions is sometimes unsatisfactory, and this has been partly ascribed to depth of planting. In order to find out if this could be so, a simple experiment was carried out in 1958.Item A Molasses Grass Variety Trial(1960/1961) Bogdan, A.V.; Grassland Research StationSince 1951 numerous samples of molasses grass (Meiillis lIlilllltifiora Beauv.) have been grown in small observational plots at the Grassland Research Station, Kitale. In 195612 of the better varieties were selected for further trial in duplicate plots of 1 / 100 acre each. The trial was planted in April andwas continued for three seasons until October, 1958. The seed was sown in 2 ft. rows at 10 lb. per acre and with it was placed one hundredweight of double super phosphate. One hundredweight of sulphate of ammonia was applied in May each year. Some varieties developed faster than others and to avoid punishing the slower types, all were allowed to flower and set seed in the first year, thus making possible a comparison of seed yields. Molasses grass is a late seeder and grazing did not begin till the second season. The plots were grazed seven times: four times in the second year and three times in the third year.Item The Selection of Tropical Ley Grasses in Kenya: General Considerations and Methods(1959) Bogdan, A.V.; Grassland Research Station, Department of Agriculture, Kitale, KenyaThe cultivation of grasses in Kenya is increasing very rapidly as a result of general improvements in farming methods, and there is now a large and increasing demand for good quality strains of ley grasses suitable for various local conditions. For areas of high altitude, with climatic conditions approaching those of temperate European countries, European or American grasses such as cocksfoot, ryegrass, fescue. brome grass and other less important species can satisfy the demand. The selection of strains of these grasses is dealt with at the high-altitude Grassland Research Station at Mob. The selection and strain-building of tropical grasses, suitable for lower altitudes and warmer, and often also drier conditions, is concentrated on the Grassland Research Station at Kitale, which is situated in Western Kenya at 6,200 ft.(1,900 m.) altitude. The rainfall is about 45 in.(1,100 mm.) per annum, falling mostly in one long rainy season lasting from April to September. It is this latter work which is described in this paper. The conditions of the work of a grass breeder in Kenya differ considerably from those of his counterpart in most of the European continental countries and in the United Kingdom. In Britain and in almost any single country of Western Europe, climatic conditions vary much less than in Kenya, where distinct climates change over relatively short distances from the purely tropical in the coastal belt to the cool and temperate in the highlands. The rainfall varies from about 100 in. per annum on the Nyambeni Range north-east of Mt. Kenya to less than 10 in. per annum in the dry deserts of northern Kenya. Even if the areas of desert and semidesert are excluded, the variation of climatic conditions in the areas of arable cultivation still remains very high, and a large number of species and strains of cultivated grasses is required to suit these various conditions. These requirements cannot be fully satisfied for a long time to come because the extent of the work done on grass breeding in Kenya is only a fraction of that undertaken in the United Kingdom. Although we may hope for better facilities for grass breeding in Kenya and in other East African territories in the future, it is doubtful if the present agricultural economy of Kenya can afford to finance a grass-breeding programme extensive enough to approach the intensity of similar work in Europe, and satisfy the need for high quality grass strains suitable for various regions of Kenya. The grass breeder in this country cannot afford to use the elaborate methods in current use in Europe, and he must concentrate on the simplest forms of selection and strain-building, though he may apply a more elaborate breeding programme in exceptional cases. His main aim should be the simple selection of grass strains of reasonable quality in as short a time as possible. In any country that is young from the point of view of grass cultivation the first efforts of methodical search for better material nearly always produce quick results, and we in East Africa are fortunate in having a very rich grass flora (Bogdan, 1958a), and a particularly wide range of intraspecific variation in the local grass species suitable for introduction into cultivation. We are also fortunate in having amongst the local and introduced tropical perennial ley grasses about 50 per cent, if not more, of autogamous, usually apomictic species, which breed true to type and do not mix, so that the varieties of these can be used direct as ready-made strains.
