Studies with a farming
systems perspective in view were conducted in agro-pastoral areas of semi-arid central
Fast stomach fill,
palatability and promoting growth for kids were some of the most prominent qualities or
“advantages” of trees and shrubs. Response of fast stomach fill as observed in
trees / shrubs such as Ecborium spp, Faitherbia
albida,
Allophylus africana and Commifora
africana were 78, 72, 63 and 57%, respectively. It was found that less prominent qualities or
“disadvantages” included more water intake of animals after feeding and physical
characteristics of faeces. Ninety two percent of respondents noted that Dichrostachys
cinerea would make animals thirsty.
Moreover, it was reported that goats
have hard faeces when they eat most of the trees producing pods like Acacia tortilis (64% of respondents) Acacia
The
article uses an exploratory study conducted in two districts of
The study was undertaken in Kolkata
and South 24-Parganas districts of
It
is concluded that private practice has the potential to gain popularity and government
support so as to become independent as a source of income.
Five tree species (Brosimum alicastrum, Guazuma ulmifolia, Lysiloma latisiquum, Piscidia piscipula and Leucaena leucocephala) were harvested at three different heights (4, 6 and 8m) and assessed for their potential fodder yield, harvest time (for cut and carry) of fodder and chemical composition. Relationships of tree diameter and biomass tree were also calculated for all tree species.
The fodder
yield from 4 m high trees ranged from 2.7 to 4 kg DM/tree in B. alicastrum
and G. ulmifolia
respectively, while 6 m high trees showed a different trend with a fodder production from
6 to 42 kg DM/tree for L. leucocephala and B. alicastrum
respectively. Trees of 8 m height presented wider variation in fodder yield, ranging from
11 kg DM/tree in L. leucocephala to 56 kg DM/tree in B. alicastrum.
It was faster (twice) to harvest fodder from P.
piscipula than from the other species, related with the easy access to the branches,
due to its morphology and growth habit. In contrast, it took significantly longer to
harvest a given amount of fodder from B. alicastrum.
All tree species showed significant
(P<0.05) relationship between the stem diameter and biomass harvested. The CP content
ranged from 27% to 16% in L. leucocephala and G. ulmifolia
respectively. B. alicastrum had the lowest NDF content (36%) while
P. piscipula
had the highest (48%). Condensed tannin content was highest in G. ulmifolia
(1.8%) and lowest in B. alicastrum (0.7%).
The results
found in this study confirm the potential of trees as sources of animal fodder in a mixed
farming production system.
In order to verify the oestrus activity and to observe the body weight of Saanen goats, when reared in intensive condition of Northeast Brazil during four different seasons, ten adult Saanen goats were used. In this experiment four climatic seasons were considered; early rainy (ER), late rainy (LR), early dry (ED) and late dry (LD). Oestrus behaviour was monitored twice a day (8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.) during all the experiment, using two vasectomised bucks. The oestrus cycles were quantified within each season and classified as short (< 17 days), normal (17-25 days) or long (> 25 days). The goats were weighed every seven days.
During the late rainy season, a significant fall of the mean body weight of the animals was observed when compared to early rainy season. A larger percentage of goats in oestrus were observed during the late rainy season. Oestrus duration was longer in the late rainy and early dry season than in early rainy and late dry season. During the experiment, there were 12.0% of short cycles, 50.3% of normal cycles and 37.7% of long cycles. The percentages of abnormal cycles (short and long cycles), in relation to total cycles monitored in each season were 52, 58, 38 and 50% for early rainy, late rainy, early dry and late dry, respectively.
From the results of
this study it can be concluded that pen-fed Saanen goats do not show seasonality for
oestrus behaviour. Rainfall appeared to be an extero-receptive factor influencing
the quality of sexual activity and performance in these goats.
Chemical
composition, in situ degradability, in vitro digestibility of OM and amino-acid
composition of 8 protein supplements used in livestock diets have been determined in the
present study. Within legume seeds, Cyprus vetch had the highest (35.7%) content in CP
followed by common vetch (31.5%); the CP content of chickpeas, field beans, narbon vetch
and peas were relatively close (24-27%). True protein as percent of total-CP ranged from
83 to 94%; chickpeas having the lowest (83%), and peas the highest (94%). Chickpeas
had higher fat (5.3%) content than all other grains (1.14-1.62%). Legume seeds were
rich sources of K (1.22%) and P (0.52%) and their Ca content was only around 25 and 10% of
their P and K content, respectively. Overall, food legumes were good sources of Ca
(0.14%), P, Fe (123 ppm) and Cu (15 ppm). Peas had the highest “D” value (95.5%)
followed by Cyprus vetch (92.3%). The “D” value of the other grains ranged from
86 to 89%, and was close to that of soybean meal (88%). Legume grains were rich in lysine
(1.79%) and poor in methionine (0.42%). The percentage of amino-acids to total-CP was
similar in narbon vetch (98.7%), peas (95.0%) and soybean meal (96.0%); the corresponding
values for common vetch, chickpeas, cyprus vetch and field beans were 71, 87, 83 and 82%,
respectively. Effective CP degradability (ECPdg) in soybean meal was lower (P<0.05)
than that of all other legume seeds, and of sunflower meal. Among legume seeds chickpeas
had the lowest ECPdg followed in increasing order by common vetch, narbon vetch, peas,
cyprus vetch and field beans. There were no significant differences in ECPdg between peas,
chickpeas, common vetch and narbon vetch.
The area of study
is Oyo State in Nigeria. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select the
studied farmers who were organised in groups. From the study, it was discovered that 79%
of the respondents were male and 84% Christians, 66% married and 60% who lacked formal
education. Most of the farmers (57%) cultivated below 1.6 ha of farmland. Almost 37% of
the farmers belonged to one cooperative society, with 70% paying their dues.
About 40% of the respondents had low perception of livestock production technologies while 51% of them were aware of these technologies. Farmers obtained all information through friends and family members. Their inability to have contact with extension agents affected their perception and awareness of the technologies.
The objective of this study was to determine the DM and protein digestibility and N balance in lambs of diets that contained either alfalfa (Medicago sativa), cottonseed meal (Gossypium), or raw cracked pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) as the protein source. Eighteen lambs were blocked by genotype and within blocks assigned to one of three diets. All diets were formulated to provide similar amounts of crude protein (CP), which was equal to the daily CP requirement for a lamb with an average body weight (BW) of 38 kg. Diets provided adequate energy to support an average daily gain (ADG) of 100 g. Lambs were confined to metabolism crates for the 28-days experiment and limit-fed each diet once daily. A 5-days total collection of feces and urine was conducted at the end of the experimental period.
Dry matter digestibility was similar among the diets containing pigeon pea, cottonseed meal or alfalfa, but protein digestibility was different. The diet containing pigeon peas had a lower protein digestibility than the diet containing alfalfa. However, N retention (g/d) was not different among the three diets, although fecal N was higher in lambs fed the diet containing pigeon peas.
From these data, we conclude that pigeon peas can be used as a protein source in the diets of lambs and that one unit of raw cracked pigeon peas can replace 0.6 units of maize and 0.4 units of cottonseed meal in diets fed to lambs without lowering diet digestibility and N retention.
Two experiments were carried out from 22
July to 21 October 2001 in the University of Tropical Agriculture farm on the campus of
the Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh. The main objective was to
measure the effect of different sources of fertilizer and the response in yield of water
spinach (Ipomoea aquatica, var. reptans) to
increasing levels of effluent from a biodigester charged with pig manure. In both studies the first fertilizer application was made
one week after planting and the rest at weekly interval for 3 weeks. The total period from
planting to harvest was 4 weeks.
The first experiment was conducted to evaluate the
effect of different fertilizing practices on water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica, var. reptans) yield. The crop was located on a sandy, poor soil derived from alluvial
deposits (pH 5.45, N 0.13%). A completely randomized block design with four treatments was
employed: no fertilization (control), 75 kg N/ha as urea, 75 kg total N/ha as biodigester
effluent and 75 kg ammonia-N/ha as biodigester effluent. There was no difference in fresh
biomass yield of water spinach between the two treatments with biodigester effluent (17.6
and 18.6 tonnes/ha, for total-N and ammonia-N, respectively), which were higher than the
control (5.6 tonnes/ha) and tended to be higher than when the N source was from urea (15.5
tonnes/ha).
In
the second experiment the yield of water spinach was used as response criterion to
different levels of N (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 140 kg N/ha) as effluent from a
biodigester charged with pig manure. The fresh biomass yield was linearly related with the
level of effluent N (Y = 7.12 + 0.118X, R2=
0.96) reaching 23.6 tonnes/ha with140 kg N/ha. The yield response in the second harvest
(re-growth), when the same levels of effluent N were applied, was much less reaching a
maximum of 16 tonnes/ha of fresh biomass with 140 kg N/ha, and with a more variable
response (Y = 7.03 + 0.0502X, R2= 0.64).
It was concluded that: on the basis of total N content, biodigester effluent had a similar value as urea for fertilization of water spinach; and the yield response to effluent was linear over the range of 0 to 140 kg N/ha. In the first growth period, with 140 kg N/ha of effluent, 54% of the applied N was converted to N in the water spinach.
An experiment was conducted in the Fish Farm at the
All of the five fish species (Tilapia, Silver carp, Bighead carp,
Silver barb and Mrigal) grew faster in ponds fertilized with
effluent than with manure, but the degree of response was highest for Silver Carp, Bighead
carp and Tilapia and least for Mrigal. The net fish yield was 55% greater in
ponds fertilized with biodigester effluent rather than with
fresh manure. The improvement with effluent compared with chemical fertilizer was 27%.
Dissolved oxygen concentrations were significantly increased when the
ponds were fertilized with effluent compared with fresh manure. Thus the principal benefit
of prior anaerobic digestion of pig manure appears to be the decrease in the BOD
(biological oxygen demand) in the effluent due to removal of carbon as methane in the
digestion process.
The recovery of nitrogen in the fish from the nitrogen in the
fertilizer was 42% for the biogester effluent, 26% for the
manure and 37% for the mixture of urea and di-ammonium
phosphate.
Strategies to limit needs for energy intensive cereal grains and enhance utilization of nutrients for beef production systems based on by-products were investigated using 40 growing cattle given diets containing four levels of molasses (0, 20, 40 and 60% of the diet dry matter) as a replacement for ground barley grain. The basal diet consisted of chopped wheat straw (12%), barley (from 70 reducing to 21%), sunflower meal (from 7 to 2%) and urea (1%) and minerals (8.5%). The protein level was 15%. Digestibility coefficients for the cell wall constituents were determined using the "Acid Insoluble Ash" (AIA) method.
There was a close curvilinear relationship (R2>0.93) between molasses level and the digestibility coefficients for dry matter, energy and cell wall constituents, with optimum values being observed with 40% molasses in the diet dry matter. It appears that replacing barley with molasses up to the 40% level of diet dry matter had a favourable effect on the rumen ecosystem leading to increases in the microbial breakdown of the cell wall constituents in the diet. Increasing the molasses to 60% of the diet DM tended to reduce slightly this effect, although NDF digestibility on this diet was still higher than on the barley control diet (0M).
Molasses, produced as a by-product of the sugar industry, provides important opportunities to enhance utilization of the cereal residue forage carbohydrate fractions. This can enhance production of meat and milk with lesser environmental impacts, reflecting the reduced fossil energy needed when there is less cereal grain in the diet.