Fodder Production and Grassland Management

MIXED CROPPING/ INTERCROPPING

• Legumes are generally grown only as mixture with non-legumes, with an exception of lucerne and desmanthus. The later being a perennial is grown as pure crop in view of their high yielding potential.
• And also repeated harvests and cultural operations in the standing crop become easy when grown as purecrop. However growing legumes as intercrop with cereal fodders or grass fodders make the green fodder available a complete and balanced source of nutrients to the animals.
• For improving the quality of pastures, legumes such as stylo, clitoria, siratro etc., may be mixed with grass species such as Cenchrus ciliaris, C. Setigerus, C. glaucus and Stylosanthes at one row of legumes for every three rows of grass, if line sowing is possible.
• Otherwise the seeds of legumes and grasses can be mixed in the same proportion and sown by broadcast method.