Assessment of Availability and Nutritive Values ofFeed Resources and their Contribution to Livestock Nutrient Requirements in Chire District, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Availability and nutritive values of feed resources and their nutrient contribution to livestock was assessed in Chire district by measuring the amount and chemical composition of feed resources and estimating balance between available and required amounts of nutrients by livestock. For the survey, agro-ecology, kebeles and households (HHs) of the district were selected using purposive multi-stage random sampling procedures. A survey was conducted on 120 HHs and data were collected using group discussion, structured questionnaire and personal observations. Major feed samples were collected from each kebele and their chemical composition and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) were determined. On average 13.23tons of feed dry matter (DM) per annum was produced per HH from the major feed resources. The average estimated annual livestock DM requirement for maintenance was 15.78tons with a deficit of 2.55tons. The available feed DM satisfies 87.22% and 79.44% of maintenance DM requirements of livestock in dega (>2300masl) and woyine dega (1500-2300masl), respectively, which indicates that feed shortage was more aggravated at dega than woyine dega. Banana leaf, enset leaf and Elephant grass had reasonably high CP content than the rest of the feedstuffs. The highest percentage of IVDMD was observed in banana leaf (69.74%) followed by elephant grass (64.26%), and enset leaf (61.44%) at woyine dega. Lowest IVDMD was observed in teff straw (45.08%) and bamboo leaf (45.85%). Ways of improving IVDMD of the available feed resources and supplementary feeds that can alleviate the feed shortage must be given priority