Zornia latifolia Sm.

Zornia diphylla (L.) Pers. var. gracilis (DC.) Benth.
Zornia gracilis DC.

Often "Zornia diphylla" in non-botanical literature.

Family: Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae) subfamily: Faboideae tribe: Aeschynomeneae subtribe: Poiretiinae. Also placed in: Papilionaceae.

koemataballi (Suriname);  tencilla, zornia, barba de burro (El Salvador).

A perennial, tap-rooted herb.  Stems 20-50 cm long, glabrous or pubescent, with a prostrate growth habit and intense branching.  Stipules lanceolate, striate, to 1 cm long.  Leaves bifoliolate, leaflets lanceolate-oblong, acute at the apex, glabrous or pubescent, 1-4 cm long.  Inflorescence a terminal peduncled spike, flowers alternate, 1-35 per inflorescence, bractlets stipuliform, up to 1.5 cm long, nearly enclosing the flower.  Calyx hyaline, 4 mm long, ciliate.  Petals yellow, approximately 1 cm long.  Pods 2-8 jointed, shortly beaked, more or less spiny, pubescent, the inferior margin deeply crenate , the superior margin nearly straight, joints rounded, 2-3 mm long and wide.  770,000 seeds/kg.

Native to:
South America:  Argentina (north of latitude 35°S), Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Chief habitats are open fields and grassy areas.

Naturalised in:
Tropical west Africa.

No evidence of its use in sown, improved pastures.

Well adapted to the free-draining, acid and low-fertility, Al-toxic oxisols of the South American savannas.

Grows well in areas with 1,000-2,000 mm rainfall/year;  drought resistant, survives dry season of 4-6 months.

Warm-season plant, no growth at <13°C.

Little or no shade tolerance.

Flowering induced by short days;  occurs sequentially from the basal to the terminal flowers of the inflorescence;  flowers open for 5-10 hours at anthesis.  Fertilisation is mainly autogamous , with a very low proportion of insect-dependent crossing.  Free-seeding.

Tolerates defoliation .

Recovers from soil seed bank.

Guidelines for the establishment and management of sown pastures.

Seed sown at 2-3 kg/ha;  no rhizobium specificity;  fresh seed requires scarification .

Recommendation in the Llanos Orientales of Colombia:  P, K, S at 20, 20, 10 kg/ha respectively.

Compatible with bunch grasses.

Grasses:  Andropogon gayanus , Brachiaria decumbens .

Main limitation to the use of Z. latifolia is susceptibility to diseases, namely scab (Sphaceloma zorniae) and a virus-blackmould (Meliola sp.) complex, causing leafrolling distortion and stunted growth.  Formerly promising accession CIAT 728 quite susceptible;  accession CIAT 9199 tolerant. Also attacked in seed stands by the bud worm (Stegasta bosqueella ), which, however, is easily controlled by insecticides.

Good natural spread by self-sown seed.

Minimal, easy to control by herbicides.

Mature, seeding plants:  CP 14-17%, IVOMD 69%.

Palatable.

Oestrogenic activity has been recorded in scab-affected foliage.

DM yields recorded in the humid tropics of South America:  2.4-2.8 t/ha in 12 weeks;  in the Colombian Llanos Orientales, 0.6-4.9 t/ha when grown in association with Brachiaria decumbens and/or Andropogon gayanus .

LWG of steers grazing a mixture of Z. latifolia CIAT 728 with Andropogon gayanus in the Colombian Llanos Orientales was, in the third year, 135 g/day in the 3-month dry season and 420 g/day in the 9-month rainy season.

No information available.

Annual yields of up to 700 kg/ha seed have been obtained over a 3-year period at the Cerrados Agricultural Research Centre, near Brasilia, Brazil.  Optimum temperatures for seed setting range from 20-27ºC.

No information available.

• Adaptation to low-fertility, acid, Al-toxic soils.
• Drought tolerance.
• High nutritive value.
• High seed production potential .

• Susceptibility to diseases.

Jutzi, S.C. and Nösberger, J. (1984) Seed production and growth of the tropical pasture legume Zornia latifolia accession CIAT 728. Tropical Grasslands, 18, 138-148.

Keller-Grein, G., Amézquita, M.C., Lema, G. and Franco, L.H. (1993) Multilocational testing of grasses and legumes in the humid tropics of South America. Proceedings, XVII International Grassland Congress, 8-21 February 1993, New Zealand and Australia. pp. 217-219.

Thomas, D. and Grof, B. (1986) Some pasture species for the tropical savannas of South America. II. Species of Centrosema, Desmodium, and Zornia. Herbage Abstracts, 56, 511-525.

www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPC/doc/GBASE/data/Pf000094.HTM

Cultivars	Country/date released	Details
None released to date.

Promising accessions	Country	Details
CIAT 9199	Colombia	Tolerant of Sphaceloma scab