Abstract

Glycine and siratro are tropical forage legumes that especially thrive in regions with low precipitation such as sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigated legume responses to drought stress and cattle manure application in a greenhouse pot experiment aiming to contribute to their cultivation. Glycine was affected by drought stress-reducing plant physiology and growth expressed by leaf relative water content, stomatal conductance, leaflet number and area, and shoot biomass could maintain leaf-to-shoot ratio and leaf nitrogen content. Manure application mitigated or compensated the effects of drought regardless of plant growth duration, except for nitrogen contents. Siratro responded faster to drought decreasing stomatal conductance. When the drought was prolonged, other traits also decreased. When manure was applied at the same time as the drought, the nutrient was used more for dry matter and nitrogen accumulation in roots, not in leaves. However, siratro increased plant biomass only during drought stress for 25 days and the stomatal conductance was the highest only during manure application. Based on the results, it was concluded that glycine showed advantages in forage cultivation in sub-Saharan Africa due to its drought tolerance and manure application effectiveness, while further study is required for siratro’s potential for cultivation in this region.

Key words: Cattle manure, drought, forage legumes, glycine, siratro.