Table 6 - uploaded by Fekede Feyissa
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Ethiopia has the highest livestock population in Africa. However, the productivity is very low, which is attributed to poor quality feed and feeding practice. Use of forage legume crops can play a very important role in improving the nutrition of livestock, due to their high nutritional value. Realizing this, the forage legumes genetic improvement...
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... are also other potential browse legume tree species in the genera: Acacia, Aeschynomene, Erythrina, Parkinsonia (Hanson and Mengistu, 1991;Mengistu, 1993;Williams, 1983). The more important potential forage legume species native to the Somali-Masai floristic region, are listed in Table 6. ...
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Summer legume cover crops (CC) such as Crotalaria juncea, Crotalaria spectabilis, Crotalaria ochroleuca, and Cajanus cajan could offer diverse advantages for the environment and productive cropping systems. A low transpiration efficiency (TE) of CC can induce soil water content to levels that present a challenge for the subsequent crop. In a 75-day...
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... Its average dry biomass production is about 4 t ha −1 (Makhaye et al., 2021). Neonotonia wightii (Wight & Arn.) J.A. Lackey is native plant species from East Africa (Mengistu et al., 2018). It grows well in environments with temperature, and precipitation near to 25 °C, and 1.200 mm, respectively (Ferreira et al., 2019). ...
Green manure represents a crucial soil management practice for soil traits and potentially sequestering organic carbon (OC) within the soil profile. Understanding the biomass dynamics of Fabaceae and Poaceae plants has become essential for refining existing models of soil fertility and organic carbon. In this work, we have developed six models of the fertility and carbon stock of the soil collected from the plots where ten plant species were cultivated as green manuring crop. Two of them are named aboveground and belowground biomass models which use specific biomass production parameters α and adapted to both Fabaceae and Poaceae stands, and three other models are named Ca2+, K+ and P models adapted to green manure stands. The last one is named soil organic carbon stock model, and it is adapted to both Fabaceae and Poaceae stands. A Bayesian inference was carried out to determine parameters values according to the 6-years field experiment database. The highest significant values for SOC stock, aboveground biomass model, and belowground biomass modes were found for the Fabaceae model with 9.99 t ha−1, 5.37 t ha−1, and 0.61 g cm−3, respectively. All proposed models into this study (density, soil, and biomass models) were explained by the geometric reliability index (GRI) and efficiency factor (EF) with a more dispersive fitting. This study underscores the importance of considering adapted models from the Fabaceae and Poaceae families, particularly those with high growth rate index (GRI) and efficiency factor (EF). We found that shoot dry biomass exhibited a polynomial decrease, whereas root density showed an exponential decrease over time for both Poaceae and Fabaceae plants. Furthermore, our study revealed that long-term cultivation of cover crops with green manure significantly augmented the contents of exchangeable cations (Ca2+ and K+) as well as soil organic carbon (SOC) stock.
... However, the productivity of these feed resources is declining from time to time. Currently, with the rapid increase of human population and increasing demand for food, grazing lands are steadily shrinking being converted to arable lands, and are restricted to areas that have little value or farming potential such as hilltops, swampy areas, roadsides, other marginal lands [10]. Hence, high grazing pressure and expansion of crop production reduced the size of grazing land and overall feed availability, which subsequently reduced productivity in the area. ...
... Hence, collecting species of native species from their habitats that are in a state of flux is important for locating potentially important and unique diversity well adapted to the areas of occurrence. The selection and conservation of legume varieties suited to conventional pasture production systems was considered as a major research strategy option [10]. Thus, the utilization of native forage legumes through collection, evaluation, and selection for sole cropping or in pasture improvement programs is very important. ...
... Generally, from the collected native forage legumes Macroptilium atropurpureum and Glycine wightii were shown the best performances in plant height, plot cover, leaf-to-steam ratio, and herbage dry matter yield as compared to the other tested materials. This refers to naturalized legumes are usually very well adapted to the areas in which they grow, and may contribute significant quantities of nitrogen to pasture systems, enhancing overall pasture productivity and quality [10]. The Nutritive value of the evaluated native forage legumes is presented on the above ( Table 3). ...
The activity was undertaken in the East Shewa zone of the Oromia Regional state to collect and identify adaptable and high-yielding native forage legumes for forage production and grazing pasture improvement. The experiment was carried out at the on-station of Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center. Four native forage legumes (Macroptilium atropurpureum, Neonotonia wightii, Melilotus indicus, and Glycine wightii) were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data from Morphological characteristics (growing habit, life cycle, and flower color), agronomic parameters, herbage dry matter yield, and nutritive values of native forage legumes were collected. The general linear model procedures of SAS and the least significant difference for data analysis and mean separation were employed respectively. The herbage dry matter yield ranged from 1.59-2.66 t/ha. From the evaluated Macroptilium atropurpureum and Neonotonia wightii were slightly higher dry matter yielders (2.66 and 2.31 t/ha), respectively than the others. Lower herbage DM yield (1.59 t/ha) was recorded from Glycine wightii followed by Melilotus indicus (1.68 t/ha). The Crude protein content of native forage legumes ranged from 17.24 to 21.85%. The highest CP concentration was recorded from Glycine wightii (21.86%) while the lowest CP value was obtained from Macroptilium atropurpureum (17.24%). From this study, it is concluded that Macroptilium atropurpureum and Neonotonia wightii were found to be more promising in terms of agronomic traits and herbage DM yield than others. On the other hand, Glycine wightii and Melilotus indicus produced better CP content than the rest. Therefore, it can be concluded that the tested native forage legumes can be popularized as an alternative feed resource under smallholder farmers in the study areas and other places with similar climatic conditions to enhance the production and productivity of animals and environmental aspects.
... For example, bufelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris) is well-adapted to fertile and dry soil but not suitable for waterlogging areas [72], whereas Brachiaria grass is well-adapted to acidic and infertile soil [73]. Tus, forage development strategies have been created to meet the requirements of both farm households and specialized large forage production companies, and suited species for each strategic plan have been suggested for Ethiopia's numerous agroecologies [74]. Options such as the integration of food and forage crops are ideal for small farmers facing land scarcity. ...
Sustainable farm animal raising is dependent on the production of sufcient quantities and quality of forages and fodder, especially in dry regions. Improved forage and feed species are an option for these aspects because adequate feed resources enhance soil health and carbon, generate income, and reduce emissions. Terefore, the purpose of this review paper was to investigate the role of climate-smart forage production in sustaining farm animal production and maintaining the environment in arid and semiarid regions. Seasonal fuctuations in feed supply cause temporal scarcity in Ethiopia, with more acute gaps in dry periods, particularly in drought-prone regions. To address these problems in the country, improve forages to strengthen farm productivity, climate change resilience, and environmental sustainability, particularly in arid and semiarid areas. Te country has a long history and is of some exemplary practices in indigenous improved forage production, but the input of improved forage to the total biomass production in feed resources is still low due to many factors like scarcity of land and water for irrigation, lack of awareness, forage seed, and policy recommendations. Despite the potential profts of feed and forage grasses and legumes, the availability of species adapted to a wide range of situations in actual use in the livestock sector has been insufcient. Terefore, it is strongly suggested that climate-resilient forage species be popularized to sustain livestock production and the environment, particularly in the country's arid and semiarid regions.
