Determination of Yield and Quality Characteristics of Some Warm Season Perennial Grasses Under Cukurova Ecological Conditions

This research was conducted to determine the hay yield and hay quality potentials of some warm season perennial grass species such as dallis grass (paspalum dilatatum poir.), rhodes grass (chloris gayana l.), bermuda grass (cynodon dactylon (l.) pers.), blue couch grass (digitaria didactyla willd), digit grass (digitaria milanjiana (rendle) stapf) and guinea grass (panicum maximum jacq.) under irrigated conditions of cukurova during the years of 2011 and 2012. the experimental design was completely randomized block design with three replications. according to the results, the highest green herbage yield (6768.7 kg/da) and ddmr (58.0%) were obtained from guinea grass. the highest yields of dry matter yield, crude protein yield and digestible dry matter yield (1430.7 kg/da, 153.5 kg/da and 871.2 kg/da respectively) were obtained from the rhodes grass. the highest crude protein ratio (11.4%) was obtained from the dallis grass.while the lowest adf (31.9%) ratio was obtained from bermuda grass, the lowest ndf (61.7%) ratio was obtained from the digit grass.from the results of the study, it was concluded that guinea grass and digit grass did not show good adaptation to the cukurova conditions due to low temperatures during the winter season. bermuda grass, rhodes grass, blue couch grass and dallis grass could be used to establish pasture under irrigated conditions of cukurova. to use them for this purpose, the researches on their proper sowing time, fertilization ratio, proper mixture partner and grazing performance must be conducted.