KUDZU (Pueraria phaseoloides) PIONEER LEGUME WITH POTENTIAL TO INCREASE ANIMAL PRODUCTION IN THE CARIBBEAN BASIN

L.E. Tergas and E. Valencia

No 259408, 26th Annual Meeting, July 29 to August 4, 1990, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico from Caribbean Food Crops Society

Abstract: This forage legume is native to Southeast Asia with adaptability to the major soil types of the Caribbean Basin and quite tolerant to diseases and insects. Its ability to fix nitrogen under natural conditions is excellent and increases organic matter content in the soil and crude protein in the forage. Even though its nutritive value is considered moderate due to limited voluntary intake during the rainy season, its contribution to increasing forage quality and animal production in the dry season is significative in conditions of pure swards or "protein banks". Increased animal productivity has been reported even in the case of natural pastures. This legume in association with improved tropical grasses also increases animal productivity in the dry season. Its persistence under grazing is excellent due to its capacity to grow aggressively during the rainy season. For these reasons it is considered a pioneer legume to show the benefits of forage legumes and for the implementation of a forage legume program by livestock producers.

Keywords: Crop Production/Industries; Livestock Production/Industries; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 9
Date: 1990-07-29
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/259408/files/26_72.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:cfcs90:259408

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.259408

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 26th Annual Meeting, July 29 to August 4, 1990, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico from Caribbean Food Crops Society
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().