Determination of Efficient Methods and Appropriate Time of Seed Harvesting for Panicum coloratum at Teppi Agricultural Research Center, Southwester Ethiopia Gezahegn Mengistu 1 , Ararsa Bogale 1 , Dereje Tulu 1 , Melkam Aleme 1 and Solomon Mengistu 2 1 Teppi agricultural Research Center, Teppi, Ethiopia 2 Holeta agricultural research center, Holeta, Ethiopia Introduction The main constraint to livestock production in developing countries is the scarcity and fluctuation of the quality and quantity of the year-around animal feed supply [1]. FAO [2] re- ported that feed deficiency in Ethiopia is 9 percent as Dry matter (DM), while Metabolizable energy (ME) and Crude protein (CP) deficiencies are 45 percent and 42 percent respectively. Adequate supply of livestock feed is crucial to the livelihoods of livestock producers. Sowing a new pasture or improving an existing natural pasture requires a reliable source of high quality seed or vegetative material of species recommended and adapted for the area. Seed production of forage species is less developed stage in the tropics and subtropics than in tem- perate regimes [3]. The availability of forage seed is limited though the demand for quality forage seed is increasing from time to time. Producing forage seed is critical since importing seed is not economically sound. Colored Guine grass (Panicum coloratum L.) is a tropical fine-stemmed and leafy grass taxonomically classified as Panicoideae sub-family species and can provide good quality for- age for livestock [4]. It is useful for strip planting or mixed pastures in areas below 2400m altitude with more than 500mm annual rainfall [5]. Panicum coloratum tends to be trouble- some in practical seed production including no uniform seed maturation, loss of seed due to shattering before maturity and loss of immature seed due to pest attack (ants and birds). Wider use of these promising forage species is based on sustained supply of planting mate- rial, especially seed, which is more convenient to transport and in sowing operations. Suc- cessful seed production on the other hand requires knowledge of forage seed crop husband- Crimson Publishers Wings to the Research Research Article *Corresponding author: Gezahegn Mengistu, Teppi agricultural Research Center, P.O. Box, 34, Teppi, Ethiopia Submission: May 09, 2020 Published: June 29, 2020 Volume 6 - Issue 4 How to cite this article: Gezahegn Mengistu, Ararsa Bogale, Dereje Tulu, Melkam Aleme, Solomon Mengistu. Impact of Vermicompost Fertilizer on Spinach Yield and Nutritional Components. Mod Concep Dev Agrono. 6(4). MCDA. 000644. 2020. DOI: 10.31031/MCDA.2020.06.000644 Copyright@ Gezahegn Mengistu, This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited. ISSN: 2637-7659 664 Modern Concepts & Developments in Agronomy Abstract The aims of this study were to determine appropriate time and efficient techniques of harvesting methods for Panicum Coloratum forage. The experiment was designed in randomized complete block design (RCBD,) in 4x4 factorial combinations of harvesting methods (mowing, sweating, shaking and sweeping) and time harvesting (14 th , 21 th , 28 th and 35 th days) after full anthesis. The experiment was replicated four times. The Results revealed that the mean number of inflorescences per M s , number of racemes per inflorescence, number of spikelet per raceme f were significantly different across the years. Seed yield and seed germination percentage were affected by different harvesting methods and time of harvesting and also influenced by their interactions. The sweating method gave more seed yield 633 and 618kg/ha on the 28 th and 35 th days of harvesting with 66 and 64 germination percentages respectively. In conclusion, smallholder farmers or commercial seed producers can produce optimum seed yield and quality by sweating method at 28 or 35 days of harvesting after full anthesis. Keywords: Harvesting; Method; Panicum coloratum; Time