From the Summary ... 'Preliminary results from levels and seasons of burning six forage grasses at four different locations throughout southcentral and eastern Kenya showed that species often react differently to similar fire conditions. Also, plants of a species in one location may react differently than plants of the same species at another location under the same burning conditions.Burning retarded development of all species studied at one location as compared with controls; however, burning did not measurably affect development of the same species at other locations.Plant survival, even under conditions of repeated burning and moisture stress, was generally high. Apart from Chloris roxburghiana, which suffered 10 percent mortality following the second burning season, all species maintained at least 95 percent survival.Burning usually had the effect of reducing the crown area, herbage weight, and seed stalk numbers of nearly all species studied. Chloris roxburghiana, Digitaria milanjiana, and Panicum maximum were particularly affected. Pennisetum mezianum and Themeda triandra were little affected by burning. T. triandra showed a wide tolerance for burning. Hyparrhenia lintonii, the exception, appeared to be improved by burning.Generally, low temperature burning in the late dry season had less harmful effects on vigor than high level late season burning. However, there were exceptions. At the Nyika Plateau Station, high burning did not adversely affect any species and actually improved some species compared to low burning. Here, high burning on Themeda triandra plants even outproduced counterpart unburned control plants. In the case of Hyparrhenia lintonii at the Rift Valley Station, low burning provided slightly better average production than controls Season of burning produced some varied responses among species. In general, there was little difference between early dry season and late dry season burning. However, where differences did occur, late season burning seemed to be less harmful to herbage production than early burning. Digitaria milanjiana and apparently Pennisetum mezianum were favored more by late dry season burning.Results show that response of grasses to burning varies among species. Also, species response to levels or seasons of burning can vary considerably between habitat systems.This study highlights the need for intensified burning research. Although local field application of many findings are appropriate, long term applied burning studies with controlled grazing are needed.'