Farmers’ utilization practice, yield and chemical composition of selected improved forages grown in natural resource management areas of Farta District, South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted with the objective of assessing farmers’ utilization practice, yield and chemical composition of selected improved forages grown in natural resource management areas of Farta District, Ethiopia. The methodology of this study encompassed questionnaire survey, group discussion, field measurement and laboratory analysis. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample consisting of 100 households in the district. Forage samples were collected from three sample places in mid and highlands Kebeles (lower level political administration in Ethiopia).-Samples of forages were taken after 2 months of equal cutting and used to determine the biomass yield and chemical composition. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS and SAS software. The result indicated that of the total respondents 91% and 88% of in high land and midlands, respectively, did not use any forage improvement practice after plantation. Concerning forage utilization as feed, 96 and-94% in the high and midland, respectively, practiced cut and carry system. From the sampled forages, a biomass DM yield of Sesbania sesban in highland midland of the study area was 7.8 and 7.64t/ha, Elephant grass 14.28t/ha and 13.84t/ha and Tree Lucerne 7.65t/ha and-7.4t/ha, respectively. The crude protein (CP) content of sample forages was varying from 8.02% in Elephant grass to 25.9% in Sesbania sesban. Overall, improved forages grown in natural resource management areas have a very important function in terms of contribution of nutrients to livestock and indirectly for the household economy in both mid and highland areas. Hence, intervention on management and utilization of forages grown in the natural resource areas is crucial to exploit the resources.

Keywords:

• DM yield
• chemical composition
• improved forage
• natural resources

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

In Ethiopia, due to the inconsistency of feed quality and quantity, livestock perform poor especially in dry seasons of the. This condition calls for integration of improved forage that could have several advantages over conventional feed resources available. Though improved forages were being introduced as biological soil conservation and animal fodder in government intervention areas of Ethiopia, little is known about how farmers perceive the production and utilization of such forages. Farmers’ perceptions about technology were one of the factors, which can facilitate or undermine adoption of improved forage technology; proceed to the types of improved forages grown on natural resource conservation areas of an agro-ecological zone and institutional factors individual farmers from using the feed resource management technology. The study aims to analyze farmers’ perceptions, assess the utilization practice and identify production and utilization of improved forages grown on soil conservation areas of selected of Farta district, Ethiopia.

Competing Interests

The authors declares no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Bimrew Asmare

Solomon Tefera is specialized in Animal Production from Bahir Dar University, currently working at South Gondar Zone Land use Authority. Bimrew Asmare is animal nutrition instructor and researcher at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. Bimrew trained Animal Science, particularly Animal Feeds, and Nutrition in different universities of Ethiopia and lastly graduated with PhD degree from Jimma University, Ethiopia in 2016. His research interests include Animal Feeds, Animal Nutrition, Livestock Production in the tropics, Climate change and livestock production, among others. Firew Tegegne is also an instructor and researcher of Animal Nutrition, Animal Feeds and Animal Sciences; he is currently the president of Bahir Dar University.