Leaf anatomy and nutritive values of Brachiaria ruziziensis genotypes

Relationships between leaf anatomy and nutritive values have been intensively studied in forage plants to optimize crop breeding efforts and to reduce the time and costs involved in genotype selections. We evaluated the associations between the leaf anatomical characteristics and nutritive values of 34 genotypes of Brachiaria ruziziensis during both the rainy (October to March) and dry seasons (April to September). Anatomical characteristics of the median sections of completely expanded leaves were analysed using traditional techniques. High positive correlations ( P < 0.05) were observed between in vitro digestibility of the dry material, crude protein and cellulose during both the dry and rainy seasons. The correlations between in vitro digestibility and acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre and lignin fibre were also high and negative in both seasons. There were no apparent correlations between digestibility and the anatomical characteristics of the leaves in either the dry or rainy seasons.