“Assessment of Livestock Feed Resources and Feeding Systems in Gombora District of Hadiya Zone, Southern, Ethiopia.”

Abstract

The study was carried out in Gombora district of Hadiya Zone,Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State,Ethiopia with the objectives of assessing available livestock feed resource and feeding systems,determining annual feed balance and requirements in terms of dry matter,crude protein and metabolizable energy as well as identifying constraints and opportunity for livestock production in relation to feed availability.Field observation key informant discuss and structured questionnaire interview were employed to generate data.The study district was classified into low and mid land altitude-regions and 61 and 65 households were selected from low and midland altitude regions,respectively and interviewed.Data were collected and analyzed using statistical procedure for social sciences(SPSS)verion 20 (SPSS,2011).The results of study showed that crop-livestock production system was the dominant farming system in both altitude regions.The average livestock holding size per HH was 6.78±0.15TLU;and higher(P<0.01) for lowland than midland,with the TLU of 6.06±0.14cattle,2.04±0.06oxen,0.29±0.05bulls2.71±0.13 cows,0.71±0.06heifers,0.13±0.03calves,0.13±0.03sheeps,0.13±0.03goats,0.10±0.02donkeys,0.1± 0.03horses and 0.17±0.02mules.Cattle were kept for milk,draught,meat,income,calves and manure production.The major feed resources were crop residues 48.88% and grazing resources 33.64%,then fodder trees/shrubs 8.45%,non-conventional feeds 4.58% and cultivated improved forage 4.46%.Free grazing,late to grazing,stall feeding,tethering,supply feeing and hearding practices are major livestock feeding systems.The major constraints related to livestock feed were shortage of feed,shortage of grazing land,poor market access,lack of awareness on forage cultivation and poor feeding practices.The productivity is low due to feed shortage.The overall feed balance in terms of DM,CP and ME yield per year to a total TLU value of 854.35 was found to be 851t,60t and 7,200,000MJ respectively,with negative balance of 1097.98t,40.9t and 3,116,000MJ,respectively.Based on the findings of the present study,low output of livestock in Gombora district is linked with feed shortage.Therfore,adoption of alternative feed production technologies such as integrating improved forage,efficient feed utilization,urea treatment,also technical and institutional intervention would be very crucial to overcome the prevailing feed shortage problem.