LPM 121: Fodder Production and Grassland Management (1+1)

GLYRICIDIA

• It is a small tree, semi-deciduous, with pale bark; leaves with 5-15 ovate or ovate-oblong, obtusely acuminate leaflets, glaucous beneath, dull green above, flowers usually maturing in short racemes on older branches after leaves have fallen; racemes up to about 10 cm long, stiff, pods 8-16 cm long, 1.5-1.9 cm wide, with 2-9 seeds”.
• Habitat/ecology:
  • G. sepium tolerates a wide range of climatic and edaphic conditions. Growth is most rapid in regions where annual rainfall exceeds 900 mm, but it will grow where rainfall is as low as 400 mm per annum.
  • It grows in soils ranging from heavy clays to sands and on rocky eroded sites, however, it is intolerant of waterlogging.
  • The plant is used for fuel wood, animal feed, green manure, shade, poles, living fences and as support plants.” Can grow into monospecific stands. Used as an ornamental and as a shade tree for coffee.
• Propagation:
  • Seed or cuttings.
  • Native range: Mexico, Central America and northern South America.
  • Glyricidia sepium and Glyricidia maculata are the two species available. G. maculata is more useful as a green leaf manure. It also fixes atmospheric nitrogen and thereby improves soil ferility.
  • It is able to produce profuse branching and fresh growth after every cutting. If cultivated along the border in one heactare, it will supply enough green leaf manure for 2 to 2.5 hectares of land.
  • To create a live fence, cuttings of 4 to 5 feet length should be planted along the border at a spacing of 1 to 2 metre between plants.

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