Feed-legume based crop–livestock production | Livestock and Fisheries Management (Livestock Feeds)

Millionsof poor livestock keepers in rainfed mixed crop-livestock systems innontropical dry areas face various constraints in responding to the risingdemand for meat and milk. The key constraint is feed scarcity, which isassociated with low and erratic rainfall, seasonal droughts, over-grazed anddwindling rangelands, low soil fertility as well as lack of appropriateagricultural practices and partnerships for technology development anddissemination, po Read more..

Description of the technology or innovation

Millionsof poor livestock keepers in rainfed mixed crop-livestock systems innontropical dry areas face various constraints in responding to the risingdemand for meat and milk. The key constraint is feed scarcity, which isassociated with low and erratic rainfall, seasonal droughts, over-grazed anddwindling rangelands, low soil fertility as well as lack of appropriateagricultural practices and partnerships for technology development anddissemination, poor market access, pro-poor policies and effective institutions.

 

The technology package is based on the work of ICARDAwork in the non-tropical, low-rainfall (200–350 mm) dry areas of Central andWest Asia and North Africa and on the ILRI experience in the East Africanhighlands. These showed that integration of feed/food legumes such as vetches (Vicia spp.) and chicklings (Lathyrus spp.) into small-scale rainfedmixed crop-livestock farming systems, coupled with appropriate practices,policies and institutions, could increase and sustain crop and livestockoutputs per unit land area. On-farm studies show that growing barley inrotation with vetch could increase digestible dry matter and grain yields(25–40%), and soil nitrogen and phosphorus levels (10–20%), compared tocontinuous barley cropping. Also, feeding vetch hay or grain as supplement tolow-nitrogen cereal straw could increase lamb growth rate (20–35%) and milkoutput (15–25%). Thus, promotion and adoption of the technology could reducethe widespread food insecurity, poverty and natural resource degradation insub-Saharan Africa.

Assessment/reflection on utilization, dissemination & scaling out or up approaches used

Thepackage consists of technical, institutional and policy options to integratenitrogen fixing, water efficient, annual cool-season feed legumes intosmall-scale, mixed rainfed cereal-livestock and fruit tree-livestock systems inthe highlands of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The package involvesbuilding effective partnerships and institutions for technology disseminationand knowledge sharing, best-bet feed/food legume based cropping systems toincrease crop and livestock outputs, value addition, linking farmers to marketsand promoting enabling policies. The legumes can be grazed, cut for hay inspring or harvested at maturity for grain and straw. The grain can be used as asource protein and energy in ruminant and non-ruminant rations, or for humanconsumption. The hay can be used as protein supplement to low-quality cerealstraw basal diets. The straw can serve as supplement or replacement for lowquality cereal straw basal diets depending on their nutritive value, or asmulch for soil conservation.

 

Thetechnology has been promoted in the non-tropical dry areas of West Asia andNorth Africa where average annual rainfall is between 250–350 mm. It could bepromoted in the non-tropical semi-arid areas in East and Central Africa withsimilar annual rainfall range, for instance the medium-altitude highland zoneof Ethiopia.

 

Scaling-up approaches

Theusers of the technology include small-scale crop-livestock farmers, nationalagricultural research and development agencies, non-governmental organisations,women’s interest groups, livestock keepers, policy makers, private seedcompanies and feed and livestock traders.

 

Thedissemination approaches used were farmer field days, farmer field schools,exchange visits, women’s field days, participatory evaluation for hay, grainand straw production, and on-farm testing of forage and grain as supplements inruminant rations.

 

The critical and essential factors for wider adoptionconsist of effective multistakeholder partnerships (farming communities,research and development agencies, public-private sector linkages); communityinvolvement (planning, implementation and evaluation stages); inputavailability (seeds, fertiliser, feed, labour, land); market access (input andoutput markets); effective institutions (farmers’ and women’s interest groups,extension system); enabling policies (pricing, access to loan and credit);viable seed systems (formal and informal systems, especially for feed legumes);and women’s participation (value addition and micro-processing).

Current situation and future scaling up

Thechallenges were: establishing and maintaining effective partnerships (publicand private sector); lack of enabling policies and effective institutions(extension systems, farmer groups, women’s group); ensuring availability ofinputs at reasonable prices (seed, fertiliser, simple processing machines);large-scale on-farm demonstration of inappropriate feed/food legume andlivestock management practices); and ensuring participation of women.

 

Thestrategies for addressing the challenges consist of use of participatoryapproaches to establish multi-stakeholder partnerships from planning throughimplementation and monitoring; promoting public-private sector partnerships;strengthening capacity of existing institutions and facilitating establishmentof effective institutions (extension systems, farmer/women’s groups);demonstrating best management practices – feed production, value addition,fattening and ration formulation; involving policy (price, subsidies, loans andcredit).

 

Thelessons about best ways to promote technology adoption comprise establishingmulti-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and multi-institutional teams needed forlarge-scale on-farm demonstration of integrated crop-livestock technologies; involvingcommunities in planning, implementation and evaluation stages; integratingtechnical, policy and institutional options; linking farmers to markets (inputsand outputs) and value-added products; and encouraging private sectorinvestment in seed multiplication, ration formulation and micro-finance.


Gender considerations

§  Promoting the participation of womenthrough the establishment of women’s interest groups, processing and marketingassociations.

§  Establishment of community-basedmicro-finance schemes to support and stimulate small-scale, women-managedprocessing enterprises.

Application guidelines for the users

1)   Growingcommon vetch (Vicia sativa L) toimprove quality feed supply and soil productivity: Common vetch is an annualfeed legume grown in pure stands or in combination with cereals such as barley,oats and triticale for grazing, hay-making and grain in West Asia and NorthAfrica. Vetch can be intercropped, under-sown or rotated with cereals toimprove cereal grain yields, soil productivity and residue quality to increaselivestock feed output.

2)   Landpreparation for establishment: A well-cultivated, uniform and firm seed bed isrequired for good results.

3)   Sowingmethods: Normally drilled whether sown pure or in combination with cereals suchas oats, barley and triticale. Sown at 2–4 cm with good soil cover.

4)   Soilsand rainfall: Common vetch grows well on well-drained, moderately fertile, andneutral to alkaline (pH 6.0 to 8) loamy sands and clay loams. Common vetch isadapted to low to medium rainfall regions with 250–500 mm annual rainfall.

5)   Sowingtime and rate: Autumn or spring depending on farming system and severity ofwinter conditions, but mainly in autumn. In medium to high rainfall zones(greater than 350 mm per year), seeding rate of 50–80 kg/ha is recommendeddepending upon germination percentage. In drier areas, 80–120 kg/ha isrecommended. Higher sowing rates will increase forage yield. Sowing rate of50–80 kg/ha is recommended when in combination with a cereal such as barley,oats and triticale.

6)   Rhizobialrelationships: Rhizobial inoculation of seed is advisable if grown on landwhere species has not been grown before. Poor nodulation will result in lownitrogen fixation, low yields and small rotational benefits.

7)   Fertiliserrequirements: The main nutrient requirement is for phosphate, at an applicationrate dependent on the soil P status. About 20–45 kg/ha of phosphorus may beapplied for better establishment. A starter dose of nitrogen (10–15 kg/ha) atseeding may be useful if the soil has a low nitrogen status.

8)   Foragegrazing and hay-making: Common vetch can be directly grazed by sheep and cattlein late winter and early spring, providing nutritious forage. The forage canalso be harvested for hay at 50% flowering and podding stages. The hay could beused as protein supplements for sheep and goats fed low-quality cereal strawand native pasture basal diets. Due to lack of simple equipment for hay-makingand difficulty in drying the forage, most farmers prefer harvesting at maturityfor grain and straw.

9)   Harvestingfor grain and straw: Common vetch can be harvested for grain and straw atmaturity. Maturity is evident when pods lose their green colour and becomebrittle. Do not delay harvesting as pod shattering may occur during adverseweather and the crop will collapse to the ground, making harvesting difficult.

10) Use of grain as supplements: Commonvetch grain can be used as a cheaper source of protein in rations for ruminantssuch as sheep, goats and cattle and non-ruminants such as poultry and pigs.


Contact details

ICARDA,

P. O.Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria

 

Contact details of the presenter andgenerators/promoters of the technology or innovation:

DrAsamoah Larbi;

ICARDA,Forage-Livestock Systems Unit,

P. O.Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria;

Email: A.Larbi@cgiar.org;

Tel:+963-21 221 3433;

Fax: +963-21 221 3490

 

Contact details of the presenter andgenerators/promoters of the technology or innovation:

Mr AbateTadela, c/o Dr Alan Duncan,

P. O.Box 5589,

AddisAbaba, Ethiopia;

Email: A.Duncan@cgiar.org;

Tel:+251-116172223;

Fax: +251-11641252

Glossary

BerhaneG, Eik LO. 2006. Effect of vetch (Vicia sativa) hay supplementation to Begaitand Abergelle goats in Northern Ethiopia. Milk yield and composition. SmallRuminant Research 64:241–246.

 

HaddadSG. 2006. Bitter vetch grains as a substitute for soybean meal for growinglambs. Livestock Science 99:221–225.

 

Larbi A,Rihawi S, Hassan S. 2006. Quality of vetch lines for hay and spring grazing.Journal of Animal Science 85(Suppl. 1):55.

 

OsmanAE, Nerysoyan N. 2000. The role of legumes in farming systems of theMediterranean areas. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.

 

ThomsonEF, Jaubert R, Oglah M. 1992. Using on-farm trials to study the benefits offeed legumes in barley-based rotations of northwest Syria. ExperimentalAgriculture 28:143–154. 123

 

Jones MJ, Singh M. 2000. Long-term yield patterns inbarley-based cropping systems in northern Syria. 2. The role of feed legumes.Journal of Agriculture Cambridge 135:237–249.
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