Livestock feed resources in Southern Ethiopia: The case of Meskan district

Abule Ebro, Girma Abebe¹ and Engida Oda²

International Livestock Research Institute, PO Box 5689; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
abuleebro@gmail.com   /   a.ebro@cgiar.org
¹ Livestock Marketing Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
² Adami Tulu Research Center, P O Box 35, Zeway, Ethiopia

Abstract

This study was undertaken in Meskan district of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS) of Ethiopia to assess communities’ perceptions regarding livestock feed resources, management and utilization; to determine the herbaceous and woody vegetation composition, biomass and browse production.

Livestock population increased in the upper altitude while it declined in mid and lower altitudes because of shortage of grazing lands. In the mid and lower altitudes, livestock are kept for traction (cattle only), milk production, and cash income while the main purpose of keeping cattle, sheep and goats in the upper altitude was mainly as a source of manure for Enset (Ensete ventricosum) production which is quite contrary to the farming practices of most highlands of Ethiopia where cattle are mainly reared for traction purpose. Enset leaves and crop residues are the primary feed sources in the upper and lower altitudes, respectively. In the mid altitude, supplementary feed in the form of concentrate was more important than pasture which is quite different from many parts of Ethiopia. The herbaceous biomass varied between 426 to 1,519 kg/ha with forest areas, individually protected grazing lands and benchmark areas having higher biomass than the communally unprotected grazing areas. Though the browse biomass produced was high (1,107 to 5,387 kg/ha), most of the browse species were unpalatable to goats and other livestock species. We concluded that feed resources and their management varied across the three altitudes and different approaches are required to tackle the problem of feed shortage.

Keywords: altitude, biomass, browse production, community perceptions, Enset leaves

Introduction

Livestock is one of the fastest growing agricultural sub-sectors in developing countries. Over the past 20 years, cereal, fish, meat and egg productions in developing countries have increased by 78, 113, 127 and 331%, respectively (Thornton 2010). This growth is driven by rapidly increasing demand for livestock products, because of population growth, urbanization and increasing incomes. The increase in livestock products in turn requires an increase in different inputs for livestock production, mainly feed (Alemu 2008; Adugna et al 2012). Nevertheless, feed shortage in terms of quantity and quality is still a major problem, and a major factor affecting the development of viable livestock industries in developing countries like Ethiopia (Sere et al 2008). Poor nutrition of ruminants will not only affect animal performance, but also the immune system that will reduce animals’ ability to fight diseases (Alemu 2008). In order to introduce technologies that will improve productivity and quality of feeds in the study area, there is a need to document the available feed resources, their potential and the perceptions of farmers regarding the available feed resources. Thus, we assessed communities’ perceptions regarding livestock feed resources, management and utilization and determined herbaceous and woody vegetation composition, biomass and browse production as such information which are very crucial are non-available in the study area.

Materials and methods

Description of the study area

Meskan district is located in Gurge zone of SNNPRS. The land area is 50,177 ha, of which 29,012 ha is cultivated land with annual crops occupying 17,817 ha and perennial crops 11,195 ha. Grazing land, forest, and others occupy 6.8, 11.5 and 23.9%, respectively (CSA 2015). The crops grown are maize, sorghum, wheat, barely, teff, bean, pea and haricot bean. The altitude ranges from 1,840 to 3,200 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) and the main rain is from July to September while the short rain from March to April. The mean annual rainfall varies from 900 to 1,400 mm per year . The human population of Meskan district is 180,239 (88,499 males and 91,740 females) with a population density of 404 persons/km². There are about 94,600 cattle; 20,625 goats; 38,680 sheep; 11, 452 equine and 72,348 poultry (CSA 2012).

Community perceptions about livestock feed resources production, utilization, and management

For the community perception study, the district was stratified into three altitude zones as farming systems and mode of life vary across altitude zones (ILCA 1990; Holechek et al 2014). Thus, the district was stratified into >2,500 (upper), 2,000 to 2,500 (mid) and < 2,000 m.a.s.l (lower) altitude zones. Discussion with district agricultural experts and knowledgeable people about the area, focus group discussions (FGDs), observations by the study team and secondary source of information were used to elicit pertinent data to learn about livestock holding, feed resources production, management and utilization. There were about 36 rural kebeles (lowest administrative units) in the district. Three FGDs were undertaken one in each altitude zone using checklist and the participants from both sexes were 8 (upper), 12 (mid) and 10 (lower). One FGD was undertaken within each altitude zone because of the similarity of the farming system within a given altitude zone despite the number of kebeles in each altitude zone as observed from secondary information and discussion with agricultural experts and knowledgeable people about the area. Furthermore, efforts were made to include representatives from the different kebeles within a given altitude zone. The education level of the members of the FGDs varied from illiterate to high school graduates and age ranged from 21 to 60 years old.

Vegetation study

Discussions were held with community members, elders, and district agricultural office experts about the nature, types and distribution of the grazing lands. A reconnaissance survey was undertaken by the research team which consisted of 5 researchers to observe the nature and distribution of the vegetation types and identification of grazing types. Forestlands are areas designated as forest area but are also the sources of feed mainly through cut and carry system and light grazing. Communally unprotected (CUP) grazing lands are small or large in size where management is not applied to improve their condition and are grazed throughout the year. The individually protected (IP) grazing lands are not grazed during the main growing season so that plants are given time to recover and are used mainly for the production of hay. The number of sites (28) was determined based on proportional areas of the different grazing types within each altitude zone (Table 1).

At each site, 3 sampling sites were identified and in grazing areas with woody vegetation, a plot of 10 x 10 m was laid out randomly to accommodate herbaceous and woody layers. Sampling was done from October to December at the time when most of the plants were at 50% flowering, which made identification of plants easy. Identification of plants was done at field level and for those not identified easily at field level; voutcher specimens were collected, pressed, dried and transported to Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center for identification. Nomenclature of plant species followed the Flora of Ethiopia (Hedberg and Edwards 1995).

At each sample site, the species composition was assessed using a wheel point apparatus based on the frequency of occurrence as described by Tidmarsh and Havenga (1955). If no herbaceous species occur within the given radius of the point, it was recorded as “bare ground”. Bare ground was treated as if it is a plant species and gave an indication of plant density (Mentis 1984) which is also an important additional parameter for recording real changes in grazing condition (Danckwerts and Teague 1989). The identified species were classified into highly palatable, palatable, less palatable and unpalatable based of the view of the group discussants and literatures (Abule et al 2007). At each sample site, the herbaceous vegetation was harvested at the ground level from 4 randomly placed quadrates, each 0.5 m x 0.5 m area to assess the dry matter biomass. The samples were oven-dried at 105ºC for 24 hours and each sample was weighed and recorded (AOAC 1990).

All rooted live woody plants in the 10 x 10 m plots, regardless of being single-stemmed or multi-stemmed, were counted to estimate woody vegetation density per hectare. Furthermore, the spatial canopy volumes of all rooted live woody plants encountered in the plots were measured at peak biomass. The measurements were: maximum height, height where the maximum canopy diameter occurs, height of first leaves or potential leaf-bearing stems, maximum canopy diameter, and base diameter of the foliage at the height of the first leaves. For measurement of canopy dimensions, calibrated poles of appropriate size were used. Dimensions of those woody plants too tall to measure with poles were taken using a dimension meter (Smit 1994). The palatability of each of the woody plant to goats was recorded through group discussions with the community and referring literature (Bekele 1993).

Statistical Analysis

The frequency of each herbaceous species, including that of bare ground was calculated using percentages. Mean and standard deviations were also calculated for the herbaceous biomass by altitude and grazing types. In addition to density data (plants ha^-1), leaf volume and leaf dry mass estimates were calculated from the measurements taken above, using a modified version of the quantitative description technique of (Smit a,b 1989) as described by Smit (1994, 1996). This technique provides an estimate of leaf volume and leaf dry mass at peak biomass, based on the relationship between the tree’s special canopy volume and its leaf volume and leaf mass. This technique was compiled with the BECVOL-model (Biomass Estimates from Canopy Volume, (Smit 1994, 1996) and it incorporates regression equations, developed from harvested trees, which relates special canopy volume (independent variable) to leaf volume and leaf dry mass (dependent variables). The special tree canopy volume (x) was transformed to its normal logarithmic value while (y) represents the estimated leaf dry mass. In addition to the total leaf DM ha^-1, stratified estimates of the leaf DM ha^-1 below 1.5 and 5.0 m, respectively, were also calculated, using the BECVOL-model (Smit 1994). The height of 1.5m represents the mean browsing height of goats (Aucamp 1976) and 5m height for giraffe (Wentzel 1990). These browsing heights are mean heights and not maximum browsing heights, which were only used to draw comparisons. Breaking off branches may enable some browsers to utilize browse at higher strata.

Results

Community perceptions about livestock feed resources, management and utilization

According to the opinion of the discussants, in the upper altitude, the number of cattle, sheep and goats has progressively increased because of the need of their manure as a source of fertilizer for Enset production but in the mid and lower altitudes, the number has declined because of shortage of grazing land, frequent disease outbreaks and change in the attitude of the communities towards sending children to school than livestock herding which has created labor shortage. In the mid altitude, goats are almost non-existent. In addition, in the mid and lower altitudes, cattle are kept for traction followed by milk production. Sheep and goats are reared for sale and in few instances for milking. In the upper altitude, cattle, sheep and goats are reared mainly to be the source of manure for Enset production as the possibility of using commercial fertilizer for Enset seems to be far-fetched. The major constraints to livestock production were feed shortage (all altitude zones); disease ranked second in mid and low altitudes, lack of knowledge and skill in improved husbandry was the second in upper altitude.

In the upper altitude, the primary feed source is Enset leaves which is fed to animals throughout the year. Hay is second to Enset leaves as feed source, which is followed by grazing. According to the view of the group discussants, there are two usage types of grazing lands, i.e., communally owned and privately owned usages with different management practices. The communal grazing areas are used communally and animals have free access to them. In most instances, private grazing lands (PGLs) are not allowed to be grazed during the main rainy season (July to September) although few farmers harvest, use cut and carry system. However, during the dry season, animals are allowed to graze on the PGLs. Depending on the size, PGLS are divided into two parts where part of it could be used for hay production and the remaining part used for rotational grazing where the land is grazed piece by piece, and then left to recover, and another piece of land grazed and so on. Hay is cured, collected and stored properly in a separate house by only about 20% of the households. Crop residues when available will be fed to animals in January and February and farmers having hay will feed their animals from March to June.

In the lower altitude, crop residues are the main sources of feed (residues of maize, teff straw and haricot bean straw). Natural pasture, hay, wheat bran, noug cake and the stems of papaya also contribute to livestock feed. According to the group discussants, stem of papaya whose fruit yield is reduced too much is chopped and fed to oxen by about 70 % of the households. The practice of mixing different types of feeds is common. For instance, crop residues are mixed with weeds, haricot bean with wheat straw and weed; wheat straw with wheat bran and water. Animals will feed on crop aftermath in November and December and after this period they will be shifted to conserved feed. Animals will graze on the natural pasture in May and June. When it is available, improved forage will be fed after February. The feeding of crop residues will start in January and will possibly extend to June.

Crop residues are important feed sources followed by Enset in the mid altitude. Enset is usually considered as a bridging feed and is often used when other feeds are depleted. It is interesting to note that supplementary feed in the form of concentrate is more important than pasture which is quite different from many parts of Ethiopia. In the altitude zone, 70% of the households use wheat bran, while 50% of the households use oilseed cakes for supplementing animals. This is primarily due to availability of agro-industrial by products in Butajira town located in this altitude. In most cases, crop residues are not fed alone and they are chopped and mixed with wheat bran or chopped and fed with Enset leaves. The main problems associated in the utilization of crop residues are storage and transportation. Regarding crop residues storage, about 20% of the households have separately built structure, some keep by piling up in the open field or near to a homestead which will expose the feed to spoilage. Participants are aware of methods that could be employed to improve the feeding value of crop residues notably ammoniation. Improved forages like Napier grass, Sesbania and Leaucenia, are being introduced in recent years. Crop residues, Enset, and grazing are the sources of feed from January to June, November to January and January to June, respectively. The critical months of feed shortage are from March to July.

In general, some of the solutions suggested by group discussants to tackle feed shortage include proper storage of crop residues (mid and low altitudes), harvesting natural pasture at the right stage of growth for hay making (high latitude), use of adapted improved forages and introduction of suitable leguminous fodder tree to be the source of nitrogen to the Enset plant.

Herbaceous species composition and biomass

In the mid altitude, the most dominant herbaceous species in the individually protected grazing lands, benchmark areas, forestlands and communally unprotected grazing lands were Bothrochloa insculpta,B. insculpta, Hyperhenia hirta, and Cynodon dactylon, respectively. The percentage bare ground was about 3.1% in IPs and 5.9% in CUPs (Table 2). In the upper altitude, the most common herbaceous species in the benchmarks, forestlands, IPs, and CUPs were Heteropogon contrortus, Pennisetum stramineum, Andropogon, and C. dactylon, respectively. In the IPs, CUPs, and benchmarks of the lower altitude, Hyparrhenia hirta, C. dactylon and Hyparrhenia species dominate the herbaceous layer. Of the total herbaceous species identified in the study area, 75.7% were perennials while 24.5% were annuals (Table 2).

The herbaceous biomass of the CUPs in the three altitude zones was similar and very low. The herbaceous biomass production was higher in FL, IPGL and BM (1,248 to 1,648 kg/ha) than in the CUPs (467.7 kg/ha) (Table 3).

Woody vegetation composition, density and browse biomass

In the upper altitude, the highest density of woody vegetation was recorded by Guniperus procera (429 plants/ha), Lanthana camara (357 plants/ha) and Erica arborea (314 plants/ha) (Table 4). Of the total amount of browse produced in the upper altitude, 502, 283, 1417 and 3285 kg/ha were produced up to the height of 1.5 m, between 1.5 to 2 m, between 2 and 5 m and greater than 5 m, respectively. The highest amount of leaf biomass was produced by Dononaea viscose (2022 kg/ha) followed by Guniperus procera (1,148 kg/ha). Unfortunately, most of the browse species are unpalatable to goats and most of the browse produced is beyond the reach of goats. In the mid altitude, Eucalyptus species (770 plants/ha) and Acacia seyal (310 plants/ha) were the most abundant species in terms of density. The highest leaf biomass was produced by Eucalyptus species (1107 kg/ha) (unpalatable for goats), followed by Acacia seyal (674 kg/ha) and Acacia tortilis (270 kg/ha). The latter two species are highly palatable to goats. The total leaf biomass produced was 2,308 kg/ha of which only 146 kg/ha was found up to the height of 1.5 m.

Discussion

To increase the role of livestock in poverty alleviation in the region through adequate livestock feeding, farmers' knowledge and perceptions about livestock feed resources, utilization and management and determination of the species composition and biomass of the natural pasture should first be sought, especially in the midst of rapidly changing ecological, social and cultural conditions. Thus, this study has generated a wealth of information about the feed resources which will be invaluable in developing sustainable feed production strategies for use by farmers. The shortage of livestock feed, frequent disease outbreaks, and the change in the altitude of the communities towards sending more children to school than livestock herding creating labor shortage concurs with the findings of Hasen et al (2010) from other parts of Ethiopia. The absence of goats in the mid altitude is mainly attributed to the re-distribution of the previous communal grazing areas allotted to each of the peasant associations (lowest administrative units) among the youth for crop production which is also quite common in many other parts of Ethiopia (Helland 2006). The purpose of keeping cattle, sheep and goats in the upper altitude mainly as a source of manure for Enset production is quite contrary to the farming practices of most highlands of Ethiopia where cattle are mainly reared for traction purpose (Adugna et al 2012). Enset (Ensete ventricosum), also known as ‘false banana’, is Ethiopia's most important root crop, a traditional staple in the densely populated south and southwestern parts of Ethiopia. It is a perennial herbaceous monocarpic plant, grown for human consumption and animal feed (Temesgen et al 2014). In general, the livestock production constraints and the solutions suggested by the group discussants are within the general frame of the livestock production system in Ethiopia (Getinet 1999; Alemayehu 2004) and other developing countries (Sere et al 2008).

The usage types of grazing lands, i.e., communal and private and their system of utilization is a well-established grazing land management practices of the communities which is also exercised to a limited extent in the central highlands of Ethiopia (Hassen et al 2010). Because of the lack of attention to properly manage the communal grazing lands by the communities, they are overgrazed and degraded which is similar with the poor condition of the communal grazing lands in Ethiopia (PADS 2004).

As the expansion of crop land increases, the availability of grazing land decreases thus limiting the scope for increased livestock production. Under such circumstances, crop residue alone or in combination with other feeds play an important role in supplying feed to ruminant animals (Tesfaye and Chairatanayuth 2007) which is also the case in the middle and lower altitudes of the study area. The least importance of crop residues as livestock feed in the upper altitude of the study district is contrary to the situation in many highland areas of Ethiopia where livestock are mainly dependent on crop residue as a source of feed (Getnet 1999; Alemayehu 2004).

According to Van Oudtshoom (1999), B. insculpta is an average grazing grass. Although it has a good leaf production, the aromatic taste deters animals and this might be the reason for the high percentage of B. insculpta in IPGL and benchmark areas. The abundance of C. dactylon in CUP grazing areas was related to its tolerance of heavy grazing pressure and this is in line with the findings of Amsalu and Baars (2002). Heteropogon contortus is only palatable at the early stage, after which it becomes hard and less acceptable for grazing. Similarly, H. hirta is grazed by livestock early in the growing season and it becomes less acceptable for grazing later. As seen from the results, the percentage bare ground increased with an increase in grazing pressure which is also seen from the study of Admasu et al (2010). The higher biomass in the enclosures, benchmarks and forest lands than in the CUPs is similar to the case reported by Amsalu and Baars (2002) from other part of Ethiopia. Hence, excluding grazing provides the opportunity for the plants to grow better and have a better basal cover. However, high biomass does not necessarily mean high vegetation quality (i.e., nutrients) – grazing lawns (Tainton 1999). The perennial herbaceous species are better indicators of the ecological status of an area compared to annual herbaceous species and the lower abundance of the annual grass species in the study area could be due to the reaction of annual grasses to small changes in rainfall and grazing pressure (Van Rooysen et al 1991). The low biomass in the CUPs might be due to the high grazing pressure, although we were unable to quantify the stocking rate under field conditions.

According to Bekele (1993), G. procera, L. camara and E. arborea are commonly found in the highlands of Ethiopia although their density is sharply declining. Ddetermination of browse production for stock usage is very important. However, as most of the browse species are unpalatable to animals and beyond the reach of goats, it is essential to plant multi-purpose trees. The unpalatability of G. procera, L. camara, E. arborea,D. viscose, and Eucalyptus and the high palatability ofA. seyal, R. natalensis, D. repens,A. tortilis, A. seyal, A. saligna and S. sesban is well documented in literatures (Le Houe´rou 1980; Smit 1994; Kaitho 1997).

Conclusions

• The study has shown that feed resources and their management varied across the three altitudes.
  
  
• The studies revealed that the communally unprotected grazing lands have deteriorated and need improvement. Furthermore, their size is diminishing from time to time requiring the development of alternative feed resources and improving the utilization of the available feeds through different methods (treatment of crop residues, forage development, proper conservation and etc).
  
  
• Training of the communities and development agents on proper production, utilization and conservation of feed resources is necessary.
  
  
• Private grazing lands in all altitudinal zones were found to be important sites for introduction of improved forages species.
  
  
• Full participation of farmers, government and non-governmental organizations that might be directly or indirectly involved in grazing land utilization, management, and conservation are imperative and this is a need for proper land use planning.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Ethiopian Sheep and Goat productivity improvement project for financing the study through the USAID grant and the communities and other stakeholders for providing us with valuable information.

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Received 2 September 2017; Accepted 23 October 2017; Published 2 November 2017

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