1883

4: Forages

Flemingia macrophylla (Willd.) Merr.

Philip. Journ. Sci. 5: 130 (1910).

LEGUMINOSAE

2n = 22

Flemingia congesta Roxb. ex Ait. f. (1812), Flemingia latifolia Benth. (1852), Moghania macrophylla (Willd.) Kuntze (1891).

Indonesia: apa apa (Javanese), hahapaan (Sundanese), pok kepokan (Madura). Malaysia: serengan jantan, beringan. Philippines: laclay-guinan (Tagalog), gewawini (Ifugao), malabalatong (Pampanga). Laos: thwàx h'èè h'üad, hom sam muang (Xieng Khouang), thoua huat (Vientiane). Thailand: mahae-nok (northern), khamin naang, khamin ling (central). Vietnam: tóp mo' láto, cây dau ma (Vinh phu), cai duoi chon (Thuan Hai).

Flemingia macrophylla originates from and is widely distributed in South-East Asia and in Taiwan, southern China, India, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. It has been introduced and naturalized in East, Central and West Africa.

Flemingia macrophylla is grown in hedges and provides forage and also mulch for associated food crops grown in alley cropping systems. It is also grown in terraces to control soil erosion and is used to provide dry season forage in the savanna zone of Nigeria. In Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, West Africa and Madagascar the plant is used as a cover crop and as a shade crop in young plantations of cacao, coffee, banana and rubber. It is one of the sources of the Arab dye which is called 'warrus' or 'waras'. 'Waras' is a purple or orange-brown coarse powder, consisting of the glandular hairs rubbed from dry Flemingia fruits, capable of dying silk but not wool or cotton, and which is called flemingin. It is a minor host of the Indian lac insect. The stems are a source of flavonoid compounds. In Indonesia and Malaysia the leaves are used as a source of medicine. In the Ivory Coast it is used to reduce nematodes in pineapple plantations and as green manure and mulch.

Leaf nutrient contents (based on DM) are: N 2.3—3.8%, P 0.19—0.25%, K 1.00—1.40%, Ca 0.55—0.75%, and Mg 0.18—0.28%. In vitro digestibility of the leaves is much lower than that of Leucaena leucocephala (Lamk) de Wit. The leaves decompose relatively slowly and are useful as mulch material. Under humid tropical conditions, losing half of an initial quantity of 4 t/ha of dry matter took 53 days.
There are 55 seeds/g.

Woody, deep-rooting, tussock-forming shrub, 1—4 m tall. Young branches greenish, ribbed, triangular in section, silky. Old stems brown, almost round in section. Leaves digitately trifoliolate; petioles narrowly channelled, slightly winged, up to 10 cm long; leaflets lanceolate, 6—16 cm x 4—7 cm, papery, veins covered with silky hairs, dark green. Inflorescence a dense axillary raceme, subspiciform, sessile, 2.5—10 cm long, silky; bracts ovate, 3—6 mm long; calyx green, 6—13 mm, pale velutinous with 5 lanceolate lobes; corolla with greenish elliptical standard and distinct parallel red veins, wings narrow and much shorter than the keel, light purple at the apex. Pod oblong, inflated, 8—15 mm x 5 mm, covered with fine glandular hairs, dehiscent, dark brown, 2-seeded. Seed globular, 2—3 mm in diameter, shiny black.
Nodulation is often difficult to locate, partly because the nodules are very small.

Flemingia macrophylla can be found from sea-level up to 2000 m altitude, within a wide range of rainfall patterns, from sub-humid to humid (1100—2850 mm/year). It cannot tolerate long dry spells and is capable of surviving on very poorly drained soils with waterlogging. Its natural habitat is along watercourses, both on clay and lateritic soils, as well as under drier conditions such as in fields infested with Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeuschel. The plant tolerates shade and poor soils.

Flemingia macrophylla is propagated by seed. Since untreated seed is hardseeded, scarification is usually required to increase the germination percentage of seed prior to sowing. A good weed-free seed-bed should be prepared, and the necessary fertilizers for a particular soil worked in prior to sowing or banded beneath the row of seed. Seed should be inoculated with a suitable strain of Bradyrhizobium such as CIAT 4203 or 4215. Planting density varies according to the projected use of the stand. In Indonesia seed is often sown in rows 90 cm apart with 3—4 seeds planted every 60 cm along the row. Good weed control is required during the first six months after sowing, since the plants are relatively slow to establish. Once established, they require little attention.
Under humid, lowland tropical conditions in the Ivory Coast, with 10 000 plants/ha and 9 regrowth cycles of 3 months each, an average annual production of 12 t/ha of leaf DM has been achieved, although typical yields in South-East Asia may be closer to 8 t/ha. Plants can be cut more frequently than every 3 months, but preferably not at intervals of less than 40 days. They will survive under this cutting regime for many years.
Insect pests such as the fly Agromyza sp. reduce seed production by laying eggs in green pods. In Malaysia, spraying with Endrex (1:800) once every two weeks after flowering has begun gives effective control.

Germplasm collections are located at CIAT (Colombia), the Research Institute for Animal Production (Ciawi, Indonesia), LBN/LIPI (Bogor, Indonesia), ATFGRC (CSIRO, Australia), IBPGR (Bangkok, Thailand) and ICRISAT (Hyderabad, India).

Flemingia macrophylla has excellent coppicing capacity and is showing promise when used in hedges to provide forage or mulch to associated food crops in alley cropping. As a feed Flemingia macrophylla is inferior to species such as Leucaena leucocephala (Lamk) de Wit and Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth ex Walp. since it is less easily digested. Owing to its slow decomposition, the mulch has long-term effects in weed control, moisture conservation and soil temperature reduction. Furthermore, the species is useful as a cover crop in perennial plantations, as a shelter belt, in erosion control, and in planted fallows for soil improvement. Improvement of the plant's early development and its integration into alley cropping systems and planted fallows deserve priority in research.

Asare, E.O., 1985. Effect of frequency and height of defoliation on forage yield and crude protein content of Flemingia macrophylla (flemingia). In: Proceedings of the XV International Grasslands Congress, August 24-31, Kyoto, Japan. Science Council of Japan and Japanese Society of Grassland Science, Nishihasuno, Japan. pp. 1-3.
Budelman, A., 1988. Leaf dry matter productivity of three selected perennial leguminous species in humid tropical Ivory Coast. Agroforestry Systems 7: 47-62.
Budelman, A., 1991. Woody species in auxiliary roles: live stakes in yam cultivation. Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam. 151 pp.
Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia, 1975. Species and varieties of Flemingia in Malaya. Planters Bulletin 61: 78-85.
Schultze-Kraft, R., 1985. Development of an international collection of tropical germplasm for acid soils. In: Proceedings of the XV International Grasslands Congress, August 24-31, Kyoto, Japan. Science Council of Japan and Japanese Society of Grassland Science, Nishihasuno, Japan. pp. 1-3.
Skerman, P.J., Cameron, D.O. & Riveros, F., 1988. Tropical forage legumes. FAO, Rome. pp. 561-562.

A. Budelman & M.E. Siregar

Budelman, A. & Siregar, M.E., 1992. Flemingia macrophylla (Willd.) Merr.. In: Mannetje, L.'t and Jones, R.M. (Editors): Plant Resources of South-East Asia No 4: Forages. PROSEA Foundation, Bogor, Indonesia. Database record: prota4u.org/prosea