2.1. Management of Napier grass and Sesbania
Napier grass (ILRI accession No. 160800) was established
on 0.5 ha of land at the Research and Farm Centre of Hawassa
University in southern Ethiopia (7°04′ N and 38°31′ E) two
months before the start of the experiment. It was fertilized
with urea at a rate of 100 kg ha−1 to maximize biomass
production and weed control was carried out manually.
Napier grass was divided into four equal plots after establishment
so that its maturity was controlled by cutting at different
times in order to obtain similar quality throughout the
experimental period. Each plot was used for 15 consecutive
days and re-growths of three of the previously used plots
were used again for completion of the experiment. The grass
was harvested at 1 m height, chopped manually to a size of
about 5 cm and mixed with Sesbania which was harvested
from leafy young branches and chopped to the same size and
partially wilted overnight before feeding the next day.