Forage Dry Matter Yield and Nutritive Value of the Natural Pasture of Umbulo Wacho Watershed, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The biomass production and nutritive value of the natural pasture of Umbulo Wacho watershed in Southern Ethiopia were studied. The upper and medium altitudinal zones had an open area and areas closed for 2, 3 and 4 years and the lower altitude had an open area and an area closed for 2 years. In each of the open and closed areas, three sites were selected (9 in open, 21 in closed) at each of which exclusion cages (30) were fixed. The re-growths of forage samples were cut at 30 days interval from May up to November from the exclusion cages. The overall dry matter (DM, %), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), ash, calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) contents of the forages were 30.

Assessment of potential of natural pasture and other feed resources in sweet potato production system of Shebedino District, Sidama Zone, SNNPRS, Ethiopia

“…According to same authors, CP content of the green forage was comparable with open area that received animal dung and urine and low altitude that received valuable nutrient brought from the upper areas via flood and erosion; while the low CP content at 4 th cut of this study was caused by over maturation and that may be comparable with that of closed area that was devoid of animal dung and urine and that of the medium and high altitudes caused by removal of nutrient by soil erosion. In this study, as maturation increased, CP content slightly decreased which agrees with the report of Tegene et al (2010).…”

“…The DM yield of mixture of forage of the first three cuttings was more or less similar with the results of the study on mixture of guinea grass with Stylosanthus guianensis (stylo) at a ratio of 2:2 and 3:1 harvested 150 days after sowing that gave the same relative yield; but any mixture of guinea grass with S. guianensis (stylo), C. pubescens (centro), burgundy bean and A. pintoi at any ratio was greater than the DM yield in this study. The DM yield of mixture of forages from the first three cuttings in this study agreed with that of Bua et al (2001) and Tikuneh (2009) but it was greater than that reported by Tegene et al (2010) for Umbulowacho watershed. This could be attributed to variability in rain fall, cutting time, soil type and topography.…”

“…The NDF and ADF contents of the forage between the first three cuttings and 4 th cutting were nearly similar which disagree with Tikuneh's (2009) report but were similar to that of Tegene et al (2010). As the stage of maturity of the forages in the natural pasture increased the ADL content increased but in the study of Tegene et al (2010), as the closure period increased, there was no change in the ADL content for the probable reason that there is re-growth with less lignified forages. In this study, high DM and ADL and low CP contents decreased IVDMD which agrees with the results of earlier studies (Tikuneh, 2009;Tegene et al, 2010).…”

“…The mean CP content of this study for 1-3 cuts' mixture period match with that of the open area but the CP content of this study of 4 th cut was lower than that of closed, medium and low altitudes (Tegene et al, 2010). According to same authors, CP content of the green forage was comparable with open area that received animal dung and urine and low altitude that received valuable nutrient brought from the upper areas via flood and erosion; while the low CP content at 4 th cut of this study was caused by over maturation and that may be comparable with that of closed area that was devoid of animal dung and urine and that of the medium and high altitudes caused by removal of nutrient by soil erosion.…”