Effect of Different Levels of Urea Fertilizer Application on the Growth Parameters of Brachiaria Hybrid (Mulato II)

This study was carried out to determine the effect of different levels of urea fertilizer on the growth parameters of Mulato II. This was done at the teaching and research farm of Modibbo Adama University, Yola. A completely randomized design was used, with four treatments, replicated four times and each plot size was 6m2. The treatments were; T1 (50kg/ha), T2 (100kg/ha), T3 (150kg/ha) and T4 (0kg/ha). The fertilizer was applied at week eight and 10 after planting. The growth parameters were found to vary, with the 150kg/ha at various measuring weeks exhibiting the highest mean plant height of 181.20, 187.80 and 198.40cm (9, 11 and 13 WAP respectively). The leaf length followed the trend of the plant height across the treatments and in all harvesting stage. The control produced Mulato II with the shortest leaves and T3 produced grasses with the longest leaves. The Leaf number increased with increase in the rate of urea fertilizer. At 9 WAP, 6.80, 6.75, 6.95 and 6.40 number of leaves for T1 to T4 respectively were recorded. Overall, there were no significant differences (p0.05) in the yield of fresh Mulato II grass at different harvesting stages across the treatments. In all harvest stages, T3 (fertilizer rate at 150 kg/ha) produced the highest fresh forage (11.65, 13.29 and 17.67 tons/ha at 9, 11 and 13 WAP respectively). The control gave the lowest forage yield in all the harvesting stages. It was concluded that application of 150kg/ha urea fertilizer and harvest after 13 weeks of planting is recommended as this can yield up to 17.67 ton/ha of Mulato II forage.