In order to provide recommendations on the most useful forage species to smallholder farmers, eleven grass and eleven legume forages grown in Abomey-Calavi in Republic of Benin were investigated for nutritive value (i.e. chemical composition and energy content) and fermentation characteristics (i.e. gas and volatile fatty acid production, organic matter degradability). The in vitro gas production technique was used, incubating the forages for 120 h under anaerobic condition with buffalo rumen fluid. Compared to legume, tropical grass forages showed lower energy (8.07 vs 10.57 MJ/kg dry matter [DM]) and crude protein level (16.10% vs 19.91% DM) and higher cell wall content (neutral detergent fiber: 63.8% vs 40.45% DM), respectively. In grass forages, the chemical composition showed a quite high crude protein content; the in vitro degradability was slightly lower than the range of tropical pasture. The woody legumes were richer in protein and energy and lower in structural carbohydrates than herbaceous plants, however, their in vitro results are influenced by the presence of complex compounds (i.e. tannins). Significant correlations were found between chemical composition and in vitro fermentation characteristics. The in vitro gas production method appears to be a suitable technique for the evaluation of the nutritive value of forages in developing countries.

Hemp is a dicotyledonous plant from the family of Cannabaceae, genus Cannabis, and is considered one of the oldest domesticated crops. For several years, this plant was used for different purposes, such as clothing and shoes, cordages, carpets and tarps, maritime ropes, sails and nets, and paper production (Crini et al., 2020).However, in the last century, hemp cultivation was decreased due

We undertook a survey of 112 cattle farms in the periphery of Cotonou in Benin, with the aim to characterize the diversity of the production systems and to better understand herders' feeding strategies and perspectives. We used the Categorical Component Analysis and Two-step Clustering techniques to classify the farms into homogeneous groups. The adaptive strategy of a given farm was predicted through logistic regression analysis technique. Four distinct farm types were identified as follows: large integrated agro-silvopastoral (17%), small agro-silvopastoral (28%), pastoral (30%) and silvopastoral (25%). Irrespective of farm type, low availability of and difficult access to pasture due to increased crop/vegetable farming, climate variability and urbanization were commonly reported by all herders. Current coping strategies included the use of lowlands pastoral resources and exploring new grazing routes. Future strategies included moving animals towards rural locations and significantly (p <0.001) depended on farm type and its proximity to urban centers.

Despite the numerous work conducted on integrated crop-livestock systems, very little is known about factors determining farmers' trend to integrate. Our study aimed at a socioeconomic characterization of endogenous crop-livestock integration in Benin and identification of determinants of farmers' decision to use these practices. Two hundred and forty farmers were surveyed in three agro-ecological regions randomly selected. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information on farmer's characteristics, production factors and agriculture and breeding by-products valorization practices. On the basis of main links between both productions, three integration levels (no integration, NI: 36%; partial integration, PI: 55%; total integration, TI: 9%) were identified and characterized according to socioeconomic characteristics of farmers. Then the multinomial logistic regression technique was used to predict the integration level of a given farmer in function of its socioeconomic characteristics. The three integration levels differ significantly (p<0.001) according to variables such as membership in farmers' association, educational level, weight of agricultural experience, farming equipment and size of herds. The decision by a farmer to choose the total integration type significantly depends (p <0.001) on the size of his cattle herd, his membership in farmers' association, the weight of his agricultural experience and his equipment value. Thus, integration is a practice used by small farmers with good experience in agriculture. Strategies for improving integration of cropping and breeding are to motivated farmers for cattle keeping and membership in an association.

<p><strong>Background.</strong> In sub-Saharan Africa, pasture is the most used practice in ruminant production, and grazing areas characteristics varied in different environment. To improve ruminants’ performances, the quality of forages represents one of the most important factors to keep under control. <strong>Objective.</strong> To quantify the effects of grazing stocking rate on the nutrient composition, energy content and <em>in vitro</em> fermentation characteristics including volatile fatty acids (VFA) and methane production (CH₄) of two local perennial grasses <em>Dactyloctenium aegyptium</em> L. and <em>Leptochloa caerulescens </em>L. <strong>Methodology.</strong> The forage samples were collected in three locations (Zinvié, Gakpé, Adounko) characterized by different stocking rate (low, medium and high). Their chemical composition, energy content and <em>in vitro</em> fermentation characteristics, including CH₄ production, were determined. <strong>Results.</strong> <em>D.</em> <em>aegyptium </em>showed the<em> </em>highest crude protein, energy content, organic matter degradability and VFA production (p&lt;0.01) when collected in Zinvié, whereas the highest (p&lt;0.01) structural carbohydrates (NDF) content was detected in Gakpé area and the highest CH₄ production was recorded from the sample collected in Adounko (p&lt;0.01). Contrariwise, <em>L. caerulescens</em> showed the highest level of crude protein and degradability (p&lt;0.01) when collected in Zinvié, whereas it proved the highest NDF content and the lowest lignin values (p&lt;0.01) when collected in Adounko. The highest CH₄ level was obtained from the sample collected in area of Gakpé (p&lt;0.01). Higher (p&lt;0.01) <em>in vitro</em> VFA production were recorded in samples collected in Adounko and Gakpé than in the Zinvié. <strong>Implications.</strong> The results obtained in this study highlight the significant influence of urbanization and herd concentration, as well as of other environmental conditions, on the nutritional value and potential environmental impact of the studied perennial grasses. <strong>Conclusion.</strong> Samples from high grazing stocking rate locations produced more <em>in vitro</em> methane. Further <em>in vivo</em> studies are needed to confirm these results.</p>