Table 2.

General characteristics of the main species of Urochloa used in pastures.

	U. brizantha	U. decumbens	U. humidicola	U. ruziziensis
Common name	Bread grass/Palisade grass	Signal grass	Koronivia grass	Congo grass/Ruzi grass
Natural Distribution	Tropical Africa	Central and East Africa	East and South-East Africa	East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Rwanda and Burundi
Chromosome number and ploidy level	2n = 4x = 36	2n = 4x = 36	2n = 6x, 7x or 9x = 36 to 54	2n = 2x = 18
Genome Size (Gpb)	1.4	1.6	1.9	0.6
Predominant reproductive system	Facultative apomixis	Facultative apomixis	Facultative apomixis	Sexual
General morphology	Rachis narrow, crescentic; spikelets borne in a single row; glumes and lower lemma with cartilaginous texture; erect, tufted growth habit and longer leaf blades; inflorescences with 2 to 12 racemes; height in the range of 1.5 to 2.5 m.	Rachis ribbon-like; upper lemma nipped at the tip; spikelets borne in two rows; glumes and lower lemma with membranous texture; decumbent growth habitat and with lanceolate leaf blades; height in the range of 0.6 to 1 m.	Rachis very narrow, almost triquetrous; upper lemma nipped at the tip; stoloniferous growth habit; wiry culms, and three racemes in the inflorescence; height up to 1 m.	Rachis broadly winged; upper lemma striate; spikelets borne in two rows; glumes and lower lemma with a membranous texture; decumbent habitat with lanceolate leaf blades; inflorescences with 3 to 6 racemes.
Positive attributes	High productivity; tolerance to spittlebugs; drought resistance; good quality forage; ability to grow in shade.	Good performance under shade; high productivity under intense use; tolerance to aluminum; low fertility; good forage quality.	Adaptation to low-fertility and flood soils; some spittlebug resistance; strongly stoloniferous habit with ability to root at stolon nodes.	Fast growth early in the wet season; high seed production potential; good quality forage; ease of establishment.
Negative attributes	Need for moderately fertile soils; low adaptation to poorly drained soils; susceptibility to foliar blight.	Susceptibility to spittlebug and foliar blight; toxin production (sporidesmin); low adaptation to poorly drained soils.	Low seed production at low altitudes; low dry matter digestibility; susceptibility to rust infection.	Low competitiveness with weeds; susceptible to spittlebug and foliar blight; need for well-drained fertile soils.

The data are based on the information provided by Rao et al. (1996), Renvoize et al. (1996) and Simeão et al. (2021).