Super Napier - Green Fodder Farming in Tamil Nadu

About Super Napier:

The soil should be well pulverized with the use of a rotavator
The furrows are made 3 feets apart.
The cuttings are planted flat in the furrows, 2 feets apart, and covered with soil one to two inches thick.
10,000 to 12,000 stems can be planted per acre
After planting, irrigate to enhance germination.
Always irrigate when necessary

Watering should be done on the third day.
Irrigation should be done every 7 days depending on type of the soil
Wastewater from the cattle shed can also be used for irrigation and is best source of manure.
Super Napier grows well in all types of water.

2 tons of organic fertilizer is recommended per acre or apply four bags of 14-14-14 fertilizer.
20 days after planting, apply cattle compost manure close to the stems
Plow the land deep enough for the plant roots to penetration deep into the ground that make the plant drought resistant.
After fertilizing the farm, the plants has to be irrigate well

Weeding has to be done in the Super Napier Farm as weeds rob your plants of the benefits of the fertilizer you apply.
Hence after 30 days, weeding has to be done for the plants.
If necessary, second spell of weeding can be done after 45 days
After that, Super Napier grass will grow very fast and densely.

Super Napier grass will become robust, tufted and has a vigorous root system, developing from nodes of its creeping stolons.
Super Napier by this time would have grown up to 4 m to 7 m in height.
They will form dense thick clumps, up to 1 m across.
The leaves will be flat, linear, and hairy at the base, 100 cm to 120 cm long, 1 cm to 5 cm wide and bluish-green in color.

75 days old Super Napier plants can be fed to chickens, ducks, horses and rabbits
The Super Grass is very palatable because the stalks are tender
It has a wide range of adaptability so that many farmers can benefit from it.
Harvesting is done at intervals of 60 to 70 days.
The first harvest, however, is made three months from planting.
Then succeeding harvests are every 60 to 70 days.
The stalks are cut close to the ground, and in no time, new shoots or ratoon will come out.

Normally first harvest can be done after 90 days of planting and can be fed to cows and buffaloes
It has other uses aside from fresh feed for farm animals.
If there is excess harvest because there are not enough animals to eat the newly cut grass, the same could be shredded and made into silage.
The shredded leaves and stalks could also be made into organic fertilizer by mixing the same with cattle manure.
When shredded into fine particles, the same could be fed to vegetable-eating fish like tilapia and Pangasius.