short cultivars. Leaf: stem ration is associated with
high nutritive value of the forage because leaf is
generally of higher nutritive value (Tudsri et al.,
2002) and the performance of animals is closely
related to the amount of leaf in the diet. The
similarity in nutritive value between the cultivars
was reflected in the dry matter intake. There was
no difference (p > 0.05) in DM intake between the
different varieties and on average the cows
consumed 9.0 kg DM (109.4 g kg-1 BW0.75) day-1.
The DM intake was greater compared to 87 g kg-1
BW0.75 obtained by Irungu et al. (2006) for Bana,
Kakamega I, Kakamega 2 and Kakamega 3 using
sheep probably because they used Napier grass
at more advanced and taller stage (162 to 180
cm) compared to 60 to 110 cm used in this study.