Pakchong grass
Common names: Super Napier, Giant Napier, Pakchong-1
Scientific Name:
Feed categories: Green roughages-cultivated fodder
Physical Characteristics:
Pakchong grass forms dense thick clumps, up to 2 m across. The leaves are flat, linear, hairy at the base, up to 120-150 cm long and 5-6 cm wide, with a bluish-green colour. The leaf margin is finely toothed and the leaf blade has a prominent midrib.
Production / Availability:
Pakchong is a Hybrid Napier grass obtained by crossing Elephant Grass and Pearl Millet. Pakchong is known for fast growth with high green forage yield, high CP concentration and wide range of adaption, and can be ratooned for up to 8 years. Pakchong grass can give yield of 200 Tons per acre per year which makes it as "King of Napiers" in Asia. It is mainly used to feed livestock in cut and carry feeding systems. The grass is ready for harvesting 60 to 70 days after planting and 7 to 8 harvesting can continue at an interval of 40-45 days for 5 to 8 years. The grass is Highly suitable for silage because Pakchong containing good quality water soluble carbohydrate.
Nutritional Composition of Pakchong grass
Nutrients |
Unit |
Avg. |
SD |
Min |
Max |
Nb |
Dry matter (DM) |
Fresh |
17.82 |
2.71 |
13.84 |
22.10 |
6 |
Crude Protein (CP) |
% DM |
10.99 |
3.82 |
7.20 |
17.87 |
6 |
Crude Fibre (CF) |
% DM |
32.47 |
2.15 |
29.60 |
35.20 |
6 |
Ether extract (EE) |
% DM |
3.57 |
0.98 |
2.18 |
4.89 |
6 |
Ash |
% DM |
11.33 |
2.97 |
7.07 |
15.63 |
6 |
Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE) |
% DM |
39.02 |
6.29 |
35.38 |
46.28 |
3 |
Acid detergent fibre (ADF) |
% DM |
47.22 |
10.68 |
31.70 |
58.00 |
6 |
Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) |
% DM |
59.76 |
12.80 |
35.67 |
72.35 |
6 |
Gross energy (GE) |
MJ/kg DM |
18.52 |
18.52 |
18.52 |
1 |
|
Metabolizable energy (ME) |
MJ/kg DM |
7.59 |
3.05 |
5.43 |
9.74 |
2 |
Calcium |
% DM |
0.49 |
0.30 |
0.03 |
0.78 |
6 |
Phosphorus |
% DM |
0.33 |
0.27 |
0.09 |
0.81 |
6 |