HAWAII AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 
HONOLULU, HAWAII 
Under the joint supervision of the 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
and the 
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAU 
BULLETIN No. 72 
Washington, D.C. 
July 1934 
NAPIER GRASS (PENNISETUM PURPUREUM) 
A PASTURE AND GREEN FODDER CROP FOR HAWAII 
By C. P. Wilsie, agronomist, and M. Takahashi, assistant in agronomy l 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 1 
Description 2 
Varieties of Pennisetum purpureum 3 
Distinguishing features of the Xapier and 
Merker varieties 3 
Climatic requirements 4 
Soil requirements 5 
Preparation of the soil 6 
Methods of planting 6 
Planting with root clumps 7 
Cultivation and irrigation 7 
Page 
Utilization as a soiling or fodder crop 8 
Napier-grass pastures 9 
Rotational grazing 10 
Experiments on the yield of Xapier grass 11 
Persistence of stand 12 
Effect of spacing on yield 13 
Yields of Napier and Merker strains 13 
Yields in other regions 14 
Chemical composition 14 
Summary 16 
Literature cited 17 
INTRODUCTION 
Napier grass {Pennisetum purpvreum), also known locally as 
elephant grass or Xapier fodder, was introduced into Hawaii in 1915 
by the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station. This large canelike 
perennial is a native of tropical Africa (1, p. 334), 2 where it naturally 
attains a height of 6 to 8 feet. 
Experiments in different parts of South Africa {6, p. 60; 8, p. 8) 
showed Xapier grass to be of especial value as a green-fodder crop and 
capable of being made into silage of good quality. All lands of live- 
stock and particularly horses were fond of the grass and it produced 
enormous yields. Once the valuable features of this tropical grass 
became known, its use spread rapidly. Xapier grass became common 
in the extreme southern part of the United States, various countries in 
South America, Australia, and subtropical and tropical regions the 
world over. 
Investigation by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station on the 
agronomic possibilities of the grass, reported by Thompson (11), 
indicated it to be of great promise as a forage crop. At the present 
1 The authors are indebted to D. W. Edwards of the chemistry division, Hawaii Agricultural Experiment 
Station, for the chemical analyses reported in connection with "this investigation. 
2 Italic numbers in parenthesis refer to Literature Cited, p. 17. 
