The study was conducted to assess the major livestock feed resources and estimating annual feed production and feed balance in Moyale district of Boran Zone, Southern Ethiopia. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select the household’s (HHs) and 96 representative households were selected. Data were collected using group discussions, structured questionnaire, secondary data and personal observations. As it was identified in the study district, natural pasture, crop residues and agro-industrial by-product were major feed resources for the livestock. An average of 129,461.0156 tons of feed dry matter (DM) per year was produced in the district from the major available feed resources, and the demand for maintenance requirement of the livestock population in the district was 190,054.416 (tons DM/year) and this showed that a deficit off 60,593.4004 (31.88%) tons of DM per year in the district. Drought, feed shortage, water scarcity, disease and parasite, market and theft and predator were assessed to be the major livestock production constraints. Generally, the results from this study confirmed that the total dry matter produced from different feed resources in to the study area was not enough to satisfy the dry matter requirement of livestock to support the livestock production in to the study area, which suggest that the main focus needs to be refining the existing feed resources through restoration of tainted grazing areas, introduction compliant feedstuff production, improving feed utilization practices and introduce and promote the crop residue feed improvement. Key words: Feed availability, feed balance, feed requirement, feed resources.
{"title":"Estimation of major livestock feed resources and feed balance in Moyale district of Boran Zone, Southern Ethiopia","authors":"Hassan Hassan, Netsanet Beyero, Merga Bayssa","doi":"10.5897/IJLP2019.0623","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5897/IJLP2019.0623","url":null,"abstract":"The study was conducted to assess the major livestock feed resources and estimating annual feed production and feed balance in Moyale district of Boran Zone, Southern Ethiopia. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select the household’s (HHs) and 96 representative households were selected. Data were collected using group discussions, structured questionnaire, secondary data and personal observations. As it was identified in the study district, natural pasture, crop residues and agro-industrial by-product were major feed resources for the livestock. An average of 129,461.0156 tons of feed dry matter (DM) per year was produced in the district from the major available feed resources, and the demand for maintenance requirement of the livestock population in the district was 190,054.416 (tons DM/year) and this showed that a deficit off 60,593.4004 (31.88%) tons of DM per year in the district. Drought, feed shortage, water scarcity, disease and parasite, market and theft and predator were assessed to be the major livestock production constraints. Generally, the results from this study confirmed that the total dry matter produced from different feed resources in to the study area was not enough to satisfy the dry matter requirement of livestock to support the livestock production in to the study area, which suggest that the main focus needs to be refining the existing feed resources through restoration of tainted grazing areas, introduction compliant feedstuff production, improving feed utilization practices and introduce and promote the crop residue feed improvement. \u0000 \u0000 Key words: Feed availability, feed balance, feed requirement, feed resources.","PeriodicalId":14143,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Livestock Production","volume":"17 1","pages":"43-51"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79273788","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Messele Taye Belachew, B. T. Mersso, Adugna Tolera Yadeta
Important browses in selected districts were identified using goats’ preference and farmers’ knowledge. A total of 296 plots (20 × 20 m area) were placed along 16 transect lines randomly laid in plane and sloppy communal grazing lands to assess frequency of occurrences and density of the browse species. A total of 48 browse species out of which 31 were recognized by farmers were observed being browsed by goats. According to the goat owners, Balanites aegypetiaca was the most and Grewia bicolor was the least preferred, while the goats’ preferred Acacia tortilis as the most and Flueggea virosa as the least. In the plane area, the highest frequency of occurrence was seen for Rhus natalensis (62.4%) and Acacia mellifera (50.3%), while in the sloppy grazing area the most frequently occurring (43.9 to 54.4%) browses were Terminalia brownii, Harrisonia abyssinica, and Grewia bicolar. Density of Rhus natalensis appears to be higher both in plane (186 tree/ha) and sloppy (166 trees/ha) lands. The ranking of farmers and the goats’ preference appeared closely related. Therefore, further laboratory analysis should be conducted to verify the nutritional quality of the selected browses and urgent identification and conservation of potential browse trees and shrubs should be undertaken. Key words: Browse species, goats, grazing area, indigenous, shrubs.
{"title":"Indigenous browse species and goats preferences in selected districts of Gamo Gofa and Wolayta \u0000zones, Ethiopia","authors":"Messele Taye Belachew, B. T. Mersso, Adugna Tolera Yadeta","doi":"10.5897/IJLP2019.0661","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5897/IJLP2019.0661","url":null,"abstract":"Important browses in selected districts were identified using goats’ preference and farmers’ knowledge. A total of 296 plots (20 × 20 m area) were placed along 16 transect lines randomly laid in plane and sloppy communal grazing lands to assess frequency of occurrences and density of the browse species. A total of 48 browse species out of which 31 were recognized by farmers were observed being browsed by goats. According to the goat owners, Balanites aegypetiaca was the most and Grewia bicolor was the least preferred, while the goats’ preferred Acacia tortilis as the most and Flueggea virosa as the least. In the plane area, the highest frequency of occurrence was seen for Rhus natalensis (62.4%) and Acacia mellifera (50.3%), while in the sloppy grazing area the most frequently occurring (43.9 to 54.4%) browses were Terminalia brownii, Harrisonia abyssinica, and Grewia bicolar. Density of Rhus natalensis appears to be higher both in plane (186 tree/ha) and sloppy (166 trees/ha) lands. The ranking of farmers and the goats’ preference appeared closely related. Therefore, further laboratory analysis should be conducted to verify the nutritional quality of the selected browses and urgent identification and conservation of potential browse trees and shrubs should be undertaken. \u0000 \u0000 Key words: Browse species, goats, grazing area, indigenous, shrubs.","PeriodicalId":14143,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Livestock Production","volume":"22 1","pages":"34-42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79329030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}