Ringed Dichanthium

Ringed dichanthium (Dichanthium annulatum, palwan, also called marvel grass) is one of the most valued perennial pasture grasses of the Punjab and Sindh plains. It forms a dense, stable, grazeable sward and is among the more palatable tropical grasses, so on a syntropic site it works as a secondary-stage fodder species, the grass that builds a lasting pasture layer once the ground is settled and feeds stock through the season.

Where it thrives

Palwan is a tufted perennial 60 to 100 cm tall with a strong root system reaching down to about 1 m, native to tropical Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa and long used as pasture across the warm subcontinent.¹ It grows best on summer rainfall of roughly 700 to 1,400 mm but adapts down to about 300 mm and up past 2,600 mm, taking a long dry season in its stride, which suits it well to the Punjab and Sindh plains.¹ It handles almost any soil, from coralline sand to heavy black clay, is not fertility-demanding, and tolerates salinity, so it carries ground across the plains and the coast that would limit fussier grasses.¹

Role in the system

Palwan is a secondary-stage pasture builder. Its deep root system and tufted habit let it form a dense, stable mid-succession sward that holds soil on the plains and stands up to regular grazing, the settled grass layer that follows the rougher pioneers.¹ On a syntropic plot it is the species you use to lay down durable, grazeable ground cover under and between trees, feeding livestock while it protects the soil. It tolerates a long dry season and poor ground, so it keeps that cover in place through the hard months, and surplus growth can be cut for hay, silage, or mulch rather than only grazed in place.

Grazing value

This is a top-ranked fodder grass for the plains. Marvel grass is a very palatable and popular pasture species, taken willingly by stock, which is a large part of why it is so widely used despite feeding values that are moderate rather than exceptional.¹ It serves both for direct grazing and for cut-and-carry, and it makes acceptable hay or silage if it is cut before flowering, while the growth is still leafy.¹ Because it stands up to grazing and recovers well, it suits a pasture that is used steadily through the season rather than rested and cut once.

What you get

The returns are reliable grazing, hay or silage from surplus growth, soil-holding on plains and coastal ground, and mulch from cut material.¹ As a palatable, drought- and salt-tolerant perennial that takes almost any soil, palwan is the kind of secondary-stage grass that turns settled ground into productive, stable pasture, which is why it ranks among the standard fodder grasses of the Punjab and Sindh and is worth a deliberate place in the grass layer of a system.¹

Sources

1. Heuzé, V., et al. (Feedipedia). “Marvel grass (Dichanthium annulatum).” INRAE, CIRAD, AFZ & FAO.