Grasses and Legumes at the Banana Field in the Panabo City, Philippines

Grasses and legumes play a major role in improving farm productivity in agriculture. The study determined the species of grasses and legumes at the banana field in the Panabo City, Philippines. A field layout was used as a guide in tagging the banana plants, which would correspond to a particular area in the field. These quadrats became the sampling plots of the study. The data collection was conducted in every randomly selected quadrat. Grasses and legume species enclosed in the quadrat were counted and descriptively characterized using a key identification guide on the basis of their morphological characteristics and with final confirmation from an expert. Data on species frequency, species diversity, and population density was also determined and analyzed total nitrogen and moisture content. The results showed four species of grasses (Chloris barbata, Echinochloa colona, Eleusine indica, and Rottboellia cochinchinensis) and two species of legumes (Mimosa pudica and Mimosa diplotricha). Based on the abundance and mean densities of grasses in the banana field, R. cochinchinensis dominated the study area, while the most abundant legume species was M. pudica. Soil analysis was found strongly acidic and there was a deficient of potassium, very low of phosphorus, and less organic matter. In addition, M. pudica had the highest nitrogen content of 3.14 while M. diplotricha had the highest moisture content of 82.6 among the identified species.