Asmare B, Meheret F. 2018. Smallholder farmers livestock production on the face of climate change in Bahir Dar, Zuria District, Northwestern Ethiopia. Biodiversitas 19: 2329-2334. The objective of the study was to assess the livestock production and marketing system in smallholder systems of the area Bahir Dar Zuria district. Three kebeles were selected from Bahir Dar Zuria district based on livestock production experience and accessibility to the road. A total of 90 respondent farmers were used to conduct the assessment, and 4 key informants in each Kebele were used to get additional information. Primary data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and supplemented with key informants and secondary data sources. Descriptive statistics such as frequency (%) and mean were employed to present the qualitative variables obtained from the survey. The average land holding in the area was 0.73 ha of total land with 0.53 ha cropland and 0.2 ha private grazing land. With regard to labor allocation for livestock, family labor was involved in 91.18% of respondents while in the rest hired labor herded, fed, and watered livestock. With regard to water sources, the major source of water for livestock in the households was river (89%) while the remaining respondents use dug well for their livestock. The frequency of watering livestock was twice a day (51%) in the dry season and once a day (44.3%) in the wet season. Most of respondents (53.65%) sell their live animals during religious festivities followed by selling during the season of critical feed shortage (24.45%). Although smallholder farmers are vulnerable groups to climate change the majority (42%) had no information about climate change problem in the study area. The perception of household heads indicated that the livestock holding in the last five years of the family increased in most of the respondents (51%), followed by decreased condition (33%) and remained constant for the rest of the respondents (16%). Overall, it is important to assist livestock producer in enabling them benefit most from livestock and their products.

IntroductionMeasurement of the nutritive value of feedstuffs with near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) laboratory benchtop spectrometers is well-established. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and accuracy of a handheld low-cost Tellspec NIRS spectrometer for measurement of the nutritive value of oilseed meals.MethodsSamples (n=142) comprising byproduct meals from processing linseed, noug seed, cotton seed, groundnut, rapeseed, soybeans, and sunflower seeds were collected from farms, oil factories, wholesalers, and retail shops in central Ethiopia. Samples were scanned ‘as received’ (UGr) and also following drying and grinding (Gr), and were scanned once, twice, and ten times in a 2x3 factorial experimental design. Laboratory analyses of total nitrogen (TN), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) provided reference measurements. Calibration models were developed using a subset of 2/3 of the spectra and validated using the remaining 1/3 of sample spectra.ResultsThe sample form and the number of scans, and their interactions, all significantly affected the accuracy of the calibration models (P<0.001). The most accurate calibrations were with Gr samples scanned 10 times, where the coefficient of determination of both calibration and validation sets (R2cal and R2val) were ≥ 0.90 for most attributes. The respective standard errors of prediction (SEP) (g/kg DM) for Gr, and ‘as received’, samples respectively that were scanned ten times were: TN (3.2 and 4.7), IVOMD (11.7 and 20.1), NDF (26.9 and 43.8), ADF (25.3 and 44.6), and ADL (6.8 and 10.7). Also, the SEP for each attribute was reduced (P<0.05) by drying and grinding the sample before scanning. The ratios of the standard deviation of the calibration samples to the SEP (RPD) g/kg DM were 2.68, 2.30, 3.17, 3.05, and 4.06 for TN, IVOMD, NDF, ADF, and ADL, respectively, for Gr samples scanned ten times. Nevertheless, the SEP of samples scanned ‘as received’ would often be acceptable for routine analyses in the field and market-place under east African circumstances.ConclusionIn conclusion, NIRS calibrations for a portable handheld Tellspec NIRS spectrometer could be developed to measure important nutritional attributes of oilseed cake samples as feeds.

Background The experiment evaluated the effect of supplementing sheep fed natural pasture hay withprocessed sweet lupin grain on growth performance and its economic feasibility. The finding revealed that use of steamed lupin shown to improve the nutritivevalue of the grain and sheep performance. Methods The experiment was carried out using 24 yearling lambs with initial body weight of 27.53 ± 2.67 kg (mean ± SD) for 126 days (21 days quarantine, 15 days of adaptation and 90 days growth trial followed by 7 days digestibility trial). The experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block design consisting of four treatments and six blocks. Treatments comprised the feeding of natural pasture hay ad libitum + concentrate mix 440 g (T1), natural pasture hay + 440 g/day roasted, coarsely ground sweet lupin grain (T2), natural pasture hay + 440 g/day sweet lupin grain soaked in water for 72 h (T3), natural pasture hay + 440 g/day steamed sweet lupin grain (T4). Results There was improvements in total dry matter intake and digestibility coefficients of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre in sheep supplemented with processed sweet lupin grains compared (T4) by 58.49%, 24.66%, 39.39%, 22.97% and 39.68%, respectively, over the control group. Specifically sheep supplemented with T4 had significantly higher (p < 0.001) average daily gain (by 51.04%), feed conversion efficiency (46.34%) and daily weight gain (144.78 g/day) compared to the control treatment, respectively. All processing methods resulted in favourable average daily gain and net return, thus can be employed in feeding systems depending on their availability and relative cost. Conclusions Supplementing sheep fed natural pasture hay with 440 g/day steamed sweet lupin grains improved growth performance and fattening economics of Doyogena sheep compared to T2 (roasted sweet lupin grain), T3 (soaked sweet lupin grain) or the control (T1).

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