FEED VALUE OF BLUE PANIC (Panicum antidotale retz.) GRASS AT DIFFERENT GROWTH STAGES AND UNDER VARYING LEVELS OF HUMIC ACID IN SALINE CONDITIONS

This study underscored an underexploited crop, blue panic grass as a potential crop for hot and saline regions. It investigated feed value of the crop at two growth stages, before flowering (BF) and after flowering (AF), and under different levels of humic acid application (HA, at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 kg ha). Significant (P < 0.05) effects of different growth stages, HA while non-significant effect of their interactions were observed for various parameters. Low dry matter (DM) was recorded for cutting at BF than that for AF, whereas the DM production increased with increasing HA levels. For plants at BF stage, low acid detergent fiber (ADF) and low neutral detergent fiber (NDF) levels were observed. In contrast, leaf/stem ratio, digestible dry matter (DDM), crude protein (CP) content, and the concentrations of macro and micro elements, were all high in plants at BF stage. A similar pattern for all the above mentioned parameters was observed for augmentation of HA. The study suggests the application of 75-90 kg ha HA to the soil, whereas cutting of the crop at BF stage for enhancing both the yield and quality of the crop. Furthermore, findings of this study are expected to be a valuable reference for researchers and producers, because it broadly highlights the grass feed values.