Assessment of livestock feed resources and Evaluation of their nutritioal qualities in lalo kile District of kellem wollega zone, western Ethiopia

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the livestock feed resources and evaluation of their nutritional qualities in Lalo kile district of Kellem Wollega zone, western Ethiopia in terms of quantity and quality, evaluating feeding system, determining the balance of feed resources supply and livestock requirements, and identify constraints and opportunities of livestock production in relation to availability of feeds. Stratified random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select the kebele and target households. The district was stratified in to two agro ecologies, mid and low altitude areas. A total 127 households, 66 from three mid altitude kebeles namely (A/kucho (30), F/jirru (16) and Seggo (20)) and 61 from three low altitude Kebeles (H/abote (20), M/kallisa (14) and Wabera (27)) were selected for interview. Structured questionnaire, secondary data sources and field observations were employed to generate the qualitative data; while laboratory chemical analysis was used to get the quantitative data. The surveyed data were analyzed using GLM ANOVA procedures for social sciences (SPSS, version 20). The result of the study indicated that natural pastures (36%), crop residues (34.49%), fodder trees and shrubs (15.60%), stubble crops (8.13%), nonconventional feed (4.46%) and others were the proportion of major available feeds resources with varied in agro ecologies. About 73.13% of grasses, 15.32% of legumes and 11.55% of herbaceous were the species biomass composition. The average biomass yields of fodder trees and shrubs were 7.98-19.78kg/ tree and 1.06- 2.41kg/shrub in mid altitude and 9.87- 178.06kg/tree and 1.34-3.87kg/shrub in low altitude area. The total biomass dry matter yield of fodder shrubs and trees was estimated 74.36-100kg/ha and 500-800kg/ha from cultivated and uncultivated land in study area, respectively. The average annual dry matter production from natural pasture, crop residues, fodder trees and shrubs, stubble crops, non-conventional feed and improved forages were 4.3±0.13, 4.1±0.11, 1.83±0.01, 0.96±0.03, 0.52±0.004 and 0.15±0.03tons/household/year, respectively. In the dry season most of available feed resources were poor in nutritional qualities with significant differences in agro ecologies (p<0.05) and strategic supplementation of protein and energy rich feeds like fodder trees should be required. The feed supply in terms of DM, ME and DCP was 11.87± 0.56tons, 74,781MJ/kg and 118.61kg per household per year, respectively. The feed balance was found to be negative and significant difference across the study areas (p<0.01).The overall annual feed supply on a year round base meets only 66.13, 25.81 and 87.24% of the DM, DCP and ME total requirements per household, respectively. Alternative means of dry season feed production and supply should be in place with the involvement of all stakeholders and development actors