Indigenous woody plant species play a significant role in sustaining pastoral production systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Outside protected areas in Uganda, populations of useful naturally growing woody species are threatened with extinction. Moreover, little is known about the population structure of woody plant species in such unprotected sites to guide conservation strategies. The objective of this study was to identify indigenous woody plant species utilised by the pastoralists in the dry lands of south western Uganda and assess the population structure of the species utilized. A survey involving 100 households was conducted to inventorise woody plants in 55 nested plots of 50 m × 50 m. A total of 70 indigenous woody plant species were utilised by the pastoralists to serve nine purposes. High utilisation of the plant species was in the order of medicine for humans and livestock, firewood, fodder, timber, poles, shade, food and least in crafts. The major woody plant species utilised included Vernonia ammygdalina, Acacia sieberriana, Acacia hockii, Carissa edulis and Albizia coriaria. Allophylus sp was valuable for all the nine purposes, though particularly for human medicine and poles. In terms of conservation status, trees conformed to inverse J shape and bimodal patterns of population structure, indicating current sustainable conservation in some species and an imbalance in species with a bimodal pattern. Most shrubs reflected irregular population structure indicative of unsustainable conservation status. Seedlings for both trees and shrubs were in the low level of abundance, according to Braun-Blanquette cover scale. Sustainable conservation of indigenous woody plant species in a sedentary pastoral system requires aided regeneration D. Nabasumba et al. that involves supplementing natural regeneration with similar plant species, as well as zoning sites with high woody species diversity. Promotion of community based conservation platforms where pastoralists can be trained on sustainable plant conservation is recommended.

Tree species play a significant role in sustaining the productivity of grazing lands. However, information on appropriate species to use in restoring degraded grazing areas is limited. This study used 120 trees to assess the effect of 8 tree species on pasture diversity, abundance and biomass. This was done in a total of 960 quadrats of 1 m 2 established under tree canopies and 5 m away from the edge of tree canopies. In each quadrat, the different pasture species and their ground cover were recorded. The pastures were harvested, weighed and their biomass recorded. Results of analysis by Shannon-Wiener's index indicated that pasture diversity was almost the same under and outside tree canopies (H = 1.8 and H = 1.78 respectively), but pasture abundance was significantly higher under tree canopies (p < 0.05). Ficus natalensis and Albizia coriaria had the highest pasture abundance under their canopies. Pasture biomass never varied significantly under and outside tree canopies but between tree species, F. natalensis had a significantly higher positive influence on pasture biomass than other species. It was discovered that F. natalensis and A. coriaria have a higher potential for restoring degraded grazing areas in Southwestern Uganda.

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Range pastures constitute the major source of livestock feeds throughout the year in the grazing areas of Uganda. However, pasture yields have been declining overtime, yet there is limited information on efforts of improving pasture productivity through soil moisture conservation and nutrient management. This study assessed soil moisture conservation and nutrient management practices used by livestock farmers, sources of information, and constraints hindering adoption of the potential practices in range pasture management. Through simple random sampling, semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 250 livestock farmers in five districts in South-western Uganda. Agroforestry was the dominant soil moisture conservation and nutrient management practice used in the range pastures (87.6%). Farmers' own knowledge was the major source of information (49.1%) while lack of information (67.2%) and lack of funds (61.1%) were the major constraints for farmers' adoption of soil moisture conservation and nutrient management practices. Therefore, this study recommends farmer participatory testing and adaptation of alternative practices alongside agroforestry, inclusion of soil moisture conservation and nutrient management practices for range pastures in extension programs for livestock production and financial incentives to livestock farmers to boost their capacity to invest in soil management practices for sustainable production of range pastures.