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Teff is not recommended for grazing purposes, since much plant
material is lost due to trampling by grazing animals. It is also not
suitable for silage and even less for foggage as reasoned in the latter
statement.
Teff is therefore an extremely important hay crop and can provide
high quality fodder. Harvesting of the crop is difficult because of
lodging. Since teff lodges heavily it is not advisable to use higher
rates of fertiliser to increase yield.
Teff rust (
Uromyces eragrustidis Tracy
) and head smudge (
Hel-
minthosporium miyakei
Nisikado
) have been reported as the most
important diseases on teff (Stewart and Dagnachew, 1967 and
Tareke, 1981).
Damping-off caused by
Drechslera poae
(Baudis) Shoemaker
has
been found to be severe and even damaging when higher rather
than lower seed rates and early rather than late sowing dates were
practised (Ketema 1997). Other insect pests have also been report-
ed and include Welo bush-cricket (
Decticoides brevipennis Ragge
),
central shootfly (
Hylemya arambourgi
) and the red teff worm (
Men-
taxya ignicollis Walker
) (Ketema, 1997).
Animal production aspects
Teff is known as a very good quality hay crop. It is ready for hay
making within 65 days to 75 days. For the best results it should be
cut during the early to mid-flowering stage. It can produce between
2 tons DM/ha to 8 tons DM/ha, depending on all the climatic and
management factors. Some producers have been successful in ir-
rigating teff pastures and can produce up to 12 tons of DM per hec-
tare. This grass is often used in the equine industry due to its high
quality. With regards to the forage quality of teff, it is reported that
it can have crude protein levels as high as 11% and as low as 6%.
Teff has a crude fibre content of between 27% to 35% and a digest-
ibility of 55% to 60%.
Conclusion
Considering the role of pasture ley and cover cropping systems in
conservation agriculture, as an annual short-season crop and a plant
that grows best during the hot summer months, teff can be used as
an
‘
emergency
’
forage crop in the event of delayed planting, poor
stands, or winter kill of another crop.
As a short season ley crop, teff can provide a good weed competi-
tive ground cover to protect the soil from soil erosion especially
in a dry season, which teff is tolerable of. With its shallow root
system and low fertility demands, it is more preferable to have teff
grow in a rested land than undesirable weed species that contributes
future weed seed to the seed bank.
References
Dickinson, EB, Hyam, GFS, Breytenbach, WAS, Metcalf, WD, Basson, WD, Williams,
FR, Scheepers LJ, Plint, AP, Smith, HRH, Smith, PJ, Van Vuuren, PJ, Viljoen, JH,
Archibald, KP and Els, JN. 2004.
Kynoch Pasture handbook
. Kejafa Knowledge
Works: Maanhaarrand.
Ketema, S. 1997.
Tef
,
Eragrostis tef
(
Zucc
.) Trotter. ISBN 92-9043-304-3. Biodiver-
sity Institute: Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, IPGRI.
Stewart, RB and Dagnachew, Y. 1967.
Index of plant diseases in Ethiopia
.
Experiment Station Bulletin No. 30. Alemaya University of Agriculture: Dire Dawa,
Ethiopia.
Tareke, B. 1981.
Inheritance of lemma colour, seed colour and panicle form among
four cultivars of Eragrostis tef (Zucc.)
, Trotter. PhD Thesis, University of Nebraska:
Lincoln, USA.
CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
ON FARM LEVEL
Conservation agriculture