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1: Eragrostis teff at early flowering stage.
2: Teff in full bloom.
When teff is seeded with these other species, the ratio of teff to
other species is important, as the teff can smother the other species
if not managed correctly. It is therefore important to lower the seed-
ing rates of teff to 5 kg/ha to 8 kg/ha depending on soil type (sandier
versus clayey) and rainfall (low to high).
Soil conservation and health benefits
Teff is becoming more and more attractive as a temporary non-
weedy ground cover in many parts of the world. Its function as a
temporary ground cover due to its quick establishment and com-
petiveness with other weeds has made this species an extremely
important crop in the rehabilitation of degraded and disturbed
soils. As previously mentioned, teff is quick to establish and this
becomes an extremely important characteristic of a pasture ley or
cover crop which addresses the threat of erodible soils.
Since teff has a shallow root system it therefore has the ability
to stabilise the soil surface and not deplete the soil moisture and
nutrient levels at deeper levels. As teff is currently being used as
a
‘
nurse crop
’
it has the function of creating a micro-climate at
the soil surface, thereby lowering the soil temperature which fa-
cilitates the germination of the more perennial species, but also
preventing significant moisture loss through lowered evaporation at
the soil surface.
Management challenges
The small size of teff seed poses problems during sowing and
indirectly during weeding and threshing. At sowing the very small
seed size makes it difficult to control population density and its
distribution. The uneven plant stand after germination has an impact
on nutrient use efficiency of the crop and crop yield.
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