ABSTRACT
Two experiments (survey and feeding trial) were conducted in this study. The first Experiment was a Survey carried out at the West African Pilot Learning Sites, of Kano-Katsina-Maradi Pilot Learning Site (KKM PLS), Under the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) Challenge Project. The Survey was carried out to investigate the opinions of 100 households selected by random sampling from 5 targeted villages of Faruruwa, Alajawa, Ishiyawa, Fanteka and Kututture with 20 respondents per village. Data collected on all the households were analyzed using Descriptive Statistics by the application of Excel Spread Sheet. The most common livestock owned by farmers in these villages were goats and sheep, with 90.7% of the respondents owning does with kids and over 80% ownership of bucks. Possession of sheep with lambs and local breeds of rams constituted over 70%. Most farmers (62%) commonly owned less than 5 goats, while over 67% owned less than 5rams. Cattle ownership was less as compared to small ruminants in all the villages. Bucks and rams were owned by 81.5% and 71.3% respondents, respectively indicating the potential for small ruminant fattening programs as a means of income. Twenty five (25) % of the small ruminants were sold due to a lack of feed. Cattle were mostly housed in open kraal while small ruminants were provided with mud houses and kraals with roofs. More than 95% of respondents reported collecting crop residues for feeding, with less than 5% stating that they grazed residues in the field. Seventy-four percent (74%) of respondents reported purchasing sorghum and millet stover while 61 and 63% reported purchasing cowpea and groundnut haulms, respectively. Average prices paid per bundle (averaged 12kg) were N71 for sorghum stover and N72 for millet stover, indicating similar value for the two types of residue. The price per bag (averaged 17kg) of cowpea haulms was N340 and for groundnut haulms was N475. Bags of groundnut haulms are often slightly heavier than those of cowpea but groundnut often brings a slightly higher price even on an equal weight basis. Purchases of crop residues were made from as far away as 4-5 km in most cases and as far as about 15-25
km on big market days in minor cases. Farmers purchased concentrate feeds throughout the year. Average price of cottonseed cake was N2364 per 50 kg bag, N2226 for 50 kg wheat bran and N140 for 20 kg local mineral salt called (Kanwa). Land and occurrence of drought are perceived to be major constraints to livestock feeding. Over 80% were also willing to invest in improving animal health. The second Experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of supplementation of cowpea haulms at different feeding frequencies to sorghum stover basal diet on performance, and carcass characteristics. It involved fattening Yankasa rams in a 90day growth trial. A Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was applied with groups of eight rams (22.82 kg ±0.01) average weight and age (1.5 to 2 years), balanced by weight and allocated to five treatments; Basal sorghum stover as (Control) (T1), Control + 300g cowpea haulms fed once daily(T2), Control + 600g cowpea haulms fed once daily(T3), Control + 300g cowpea haulms fed twice daily (T4) and Control + 200g cowpea haulms fed thrice daily (T5). At the end of growth trial 8 rams from each group were slaughtered to study the carcass characteristics. Cell wall constituents (NDF, ADF and ADL) were higher in sorghum stover and cowpea haulms compared to wheat bran. The crude protein of cowpea haulms (13.35%) is higher than that of sorghum stover (1.77%). The average daily weight gain (ADWG) of ram fed T2 –T5 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those fed T1 (Control) diet. Total feed intake TFI (g/d) was significantly (P<0.05) higher in rams fed treatmentsT2 to T5 diets and had similar trends for DM, OM NDF and ADF intakes. Increased supplementation of cowpea haulms resulted in more profit up to treatment T4 while the non-supplemented resulted in a loss. Hot carcass increased significantly (P<0.05) for the supplements compared to the control treatment, while dressing percentage was highest with the rams that received split supplemented feeds. Higher Total N was found in the manure supplemented group of rams relative to the Control, while the reverse was obtained in Total P. The present study indicated that supplementation with cowpea haulms at 600g/day, fed
twice or thrice, with respective average daily weight gain values of 53.75g and 50.83g were found to be better in fattening Yankasa rams for profit in integrated crop-livestock farming systems.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
i
Declaration………………………………………………………………………………………………………
ii
Certification…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
iii
Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
iv
Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………………………………..
v
Table Of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………………
vi
List Of Tables………………………………………………………………………………………………….
xi
List Of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………………………
xiii
List Of Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………………
xiv
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
xv
CHAPTER ONE…………………………………………………………………………………………….
1
1.0 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………..
1
CHAPTER TWO……………………………………………………………………………………………
8
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………………………..
8
2.1 Importance of Ruminant Animals…………………………………………………………
8
2.1.1 Importance of small ruminants in the developing countries…………………………
8
2.1.2 Small ruminant production in Nigeria……………………………………………………….
10
2.1.3 Small ruminant production systems………………………………………………………….
11
2.1.4 Economic importance of sheep………………………………………………………………..
12
2.2 Breeds of Sheep in Nigeria……………………………………………………………………
12
2.2.1 Yankasa………………………………………………………………………………………………..
13
2.2.2 Balami…………………………………………………………………………………………………
13
2.2.3 Uda………………………………………………………………………………………………………
14
2.2.4 West African Dwarf……………………………………………………………………………….
14
2.3 Constrains to Small Ruminant Production in the Sudano-Sahelian zone..
15
2.4 Feed Resources of Ruminant Animals…………………………………………………..
16
2.4.1 Ruminant production on rangelands…………………………………………………………
16
2.4.2 Cereal crop residues as feed resource……………………………………………………….
16
2.4.2.1 Origin, distribution and spread of Sorghum bicolour…………………………………
18
2.4.2.2 Production of Sorghum bicolour……………………………………………………………..
19 2.4.2.3 Importance of S. bicolour in ruminants nutrition……………………………………….. 19
2.4.2.4 S. bicolour and other crop residues as supplementary feeding in ruminants…..
22
2.4.2.5 Limitation to feeding cereal crop residues………………………………………………..
23
2.4.2.6 Supplementation to cereal crop residue basal diets…………………………………….
23
2.4.2.7 Leguminous crop residues as supplement…………………………………………………
24
2.5 Description, Origin, and Distribution of Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea)……
25
2.5.1 Production of Vigna unguiculata (cowpea) in Nigeria………………………………..
26
2.5.2 Fodder production and utilization…………………………………………………………….
28
2.5.3 Development of improved dual-purpose Vigna unguiculata varieties…………..
29
2.5.4 Nutritive and feeding values of Vigna unguiculata …………………………………..
30
2.6 Nitrogen Content of Vigna unguiculata Fodder as Feed…………………………
32
2.6.1 Degradability of Vigna unguiculata(cowpea) haulms…………………………………
33
2.7 Integration of Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea) in Crop-livestock………………..
36
2.7.1 Vigna unguiculata(cowpea)contribution to mixed crop-livestock Production systems…………………………………………………………………………………………………
38
2.8 Protein Metabolism in the Rumen of Ruminants……………………………………
40
2.8.1 Factors affecting utilization of poor quality roughages by ruminants………
42
2.8.2 Legumes as sources of nitrogen……………………………………………………………….
43
CHAPTER THREE………………………………………………………………………………………
45
3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS………………………………………………………….
45
3.1 Experiment 1: Feed and Livestock Resources Survey in the Sudano – Sahelian Agro-ecological Zone of Nigeria……………………………………….
45
3.1.1 Location of the study area………………………………………………………..
45
3.1.2 Questionnaire administration…………………………………………………….
46
3.1.3 Data analysis……………………………………………………………………..
46
3.2 Experiment II: Performance of Yankasa Rams as Influenced By Feeding Regime of Cowpea (Vigna Unguiculata) Haulms on Sorghum Stover Basal Diet in the Dry Savanna of Nigeria……………………………………….
46
3.2.1 Experimental diets and treatments……………………………………………….
46
3.2.2 Experimental animals and management…………………………………………………..
47
3.2.3 Feeding management……………………………………………………………
47
3.2.4 Digestibility trial………………………………………………………………..
48
3.2.5 Carcass characteristics…………………………………………………………..
48
3.2.6 Cost benefit analysis…………………………………………………………….
49
3.2.7 Chemical analysis……………………………………………………………….
49
3.2.8 Statistical analysis……………………………………………………………….
49
CHAPTER FOUR………………………………………………………………………………………….
50
4.0 RESULTS……………………………………………………………………………
50
4.1 EXPERIMENT 1: Livestock and Feed Resource Survey………………….
50
4.1.1 Livestock resources……………………………………………………………..
50
4.1.2 Livestock marketing……………………………………………………………..
53
4.1.3 Draft power………………………………………………………………………
56
4.1.4 Milk sales……………………………………………………………………….
60
4.2 Livestock Housing………………………………………………………………
60
4.3 Feed Resources…………………………………………………………………
60
4.3.1 Purchase of concentrates and distance coverage…………………………………
66
4.3.2 Feed usage by crop-livestock farmers……………………………………………
69
4.3.3 Crop residues feeding……………………………………………………………..
69
4.4 Browse Plants Available in the Area………………………………………….
71
4.5 Provision of Supplemental Feeds……………………………………………..
75
4.6 Involvement in Livestock Feeding……………………………………………
75
4.7 Constraints to Livestock Feeding……………………………………………
78
4.8 Experiment II: Performance of Yankasa Rams as Influenced by Feeding Regime of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Haulms on Sorghum Stover Basal Diet in the Dry Savanna of Nigeria……………………………………..
79
4.8.1 Feeding trial……………………………………………………………………..
79
4.8.2 Chemical composition of experimental feeds……………………………………
79
4.8.3 Feed and nutrient intake………………………………………………………….
82
4.8.4 Live weight changes……………………………………………………………..
85
4.8.5 Nutrient digestibility…………………………………………………………….
85
4.8.6 Slaughter parameters……………………………………………………………
88
4.8.7 Manure quality………………………………………………………………………………………
88
4.9 Cost Benefit Analysis……………………………………………………………………………
91
CHAPTER FIVE…………………………………………………………………………………………….
93
5.0 DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………
93
5.1 Experiment1: Livestock and Feed Resource Survey………………………..
93
5.1.1 Livestock resources………………………………………………………………
93
5.1.2 Feed resources………………………………………………………..…………
94
5.2 Experiment II Feeding Trial………………………………………..………..
95
5.2.1 Chemical composition of feed ingredients……………………………………..
95
5.2.2 Feed intake…………………………………………………………….………..
96
5.2.3 Weight changes…………………………………………………………………
97
5.2.4 Nutrient digestibility……………………………………………………………
97
5.2.5 Slaughter parameters…………………………………………………………….
98
5.2.6 Manure quality………………………………………………………………….
99
5.3 Cost Benefit Analysis…………………………………………………………
99
CHAPTER SIX……………………………………………………………………………………………..
100
6.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION……………………………..
100
6.1 Conclusions…………………………………………………………………….
100
6.2 Recommendations…………………………………………………………….
101
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………..
102
APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………………………………………
123
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Crop and livestock agriculture is important to lives of most farmers and non-farmers in Nigeria. Fifty to eighty percent of Nigerians are involved in either crop, livestock or crop-livestock agriculture (Akinola et al., 2015). Considering the increasing population of Nigerians, agricultural production system is becoming more dynamic such that farmers who were hitherto in crop production have adopted crop-livestock production. In the same pattern, more pastoralists are turning into agro-pastoralists (Agyemang et al., 1993).
This change is spontaneous and is based on the perceived reciprocal benefits that the system offers. For instance, in order to meet the rapidly increasing demand for food by the expanding human population (estimated at 2.5% annually), (Manyong et al., 2005), indicated that production of food from animal production must expand by more than 3% annually and that of crop must expand by 4% every year between now and 2025. Under these conditions, there will be intensification of land use, full integration of crop and livestock Agriculture which will offer a great potential for increasing agricultural productivity and reduction or minimization of migration and the multiple conflicts between the Fulani herdsmen and the settled agrarian communities in Nigeria (Ajaero et al., 2015), especially in the wetter parts of the semi-arid zones (Aune and Bationo, 2008).
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According to Kamuanga et al.,(2008), livestock rearing plays a key role in the economies of West African countries providing, at times, 44% of agricultural GDP. With 60 million heads of cattle and 160 small ruminants, 400 million poultry, the Sahel and West Africa is an exceptional region for livestock rearing. In numbers, and in comparison with the entire sub-Saharan Africa region, the Sahel and West Africa contain 25% of the cattle, 33% of the sheep, and 40% of the goats (Serigne et al., 2006). These potentials are currently under-exploited and the region continues to be too dependent on imports in order to satisfy demand of certain animal products such as milk and meat.
It is pertinent therefore that livestock rearing should be one of the main economic activities on which the poorest populations depend on for food and income. It is also essential to ensure against vulnerability and risk related to climatic conditions for populations highly dependent on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods. The Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Challenge Program includes pilot learning sites in West, East and Southern Africa. This program was established to bring innovation to rural Africa and to test the concepts of Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D), an integrated multi-stakeholder participatory approach to learning and change processes.
The West African Pilot Learning Site, known as the Kano-Katsina-Maradi Pilot Learning Site (KKM PLS) was set up in three agro-ecological zones of Nigeria and Niger Republic. These three zones, Northern Guinea Savannah, Sudan Savannah and Sahel, are broadly represented across West
21
Africa and are areas densely populated with mixed crop-livestock farmers. The crops raised vary with the varied precipitation patterns of the zones, but ruminant livestock are an important component across all the zones. A major constraint to improved incomes from livestock and livestock products in this area has been the need for improved availability and utilization of feed resources (Herrero et al., 2010).
Poor nutrition remains the most widespread technical constraint to good ruminant animal performance in the sub-Saharan Africa. This becomes more critical during the dry season when feeds availability is not only inadequate, but the quality becomes extremely poor. Various options have been advocated as possible solutions to these perennial problems. These include feeding of treated crop residues or integration of forage legumes into the feeding strategies (Nnadi and Haque, 1988). Although feeding of forage legumes has been easily adoptable, the practice is not attractive to most of the farmers. This perhaps may be due to their limited immediate benefits that do not go beyond soil maintenance and nitrogen fixation (Akinlade et al., 2005).
Seasonal availability of good quality feeds in the Sub-Saharan Africa and particularly in West African countries, has driven the evolution of crop-livestock farming systems to become a typical characteristic (Mpairwe et al., 2003). Growing of grain crops, such as maize, sorghum, millet, cowpea, groundnut and keeping of livestock are the main components of this type of farming system (Hassan et al., 2014). In Nigeria, such type of mixed crop-livestock production system is a common feature of the smallholder farmers, with limited farmland resources. In most African countries, livestock farming systems wholly rely on grazing of natural pastures and crop residues for their dietary energy and protein (Williams et al., 1997). The dietary energy (10.05MJ/kg DM) and protein (5.6%) obtained from these sources, particularly in the dry season are generally too low to meet the
22
nutrient requirements of ruminants for maintenance (Birnin-Yauri and Umar, 2014). The recommended nutrient requirements for maintenance and production are (11.30 MJ/kg DM 11.6% CP) and (12.14 MJ/kg DM 26.2% CP), respectively (NRC, 2008). The quality and quantity of feed resources are the major constraints of increasing ruminant productivity under tropical conditions. Existing feedstuffs in the tropical countries often provide inadequate energy, protein, minerals and vitamins to support optimum animal productivity (Tripathi et al., 2006).
The increase in cropping of arable lands in West Africa has led to a greater utilization dependence of cereal stovers as the main feeds for both large and small ruminants. In the sub-humid and semi-arid regions of West Africa, millet and sorghum stovers are commonly fed as a basal diet and this is often supplemented with high protein cowpea haulms (Tarawali et al., 2002).
The development of improved dual purpose cowpea varieties has raised the potential for increasing the livestock performance in sub- humid and semi- arid areas (Singh et al., 1997). From the production of cowpea, rural families variously derive food, animal feed and cash, together with spillover benefits to their farmlands through various means such as in situ decay of root residues, use of animal manures, and ground cover from cowpea’s spreading and low growth habit. (Singh et al., 2003).
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] walp) is a leguminous crop found to be very important in the dry savanna of Africa because of its lower water requirement (Hall, 1990); it is also known to be a superior source of protein. The dried seed, green pods and leaves are consumed as food while the dried haulms are very important as ruminant feeds.
In the West African sub-region, cowpea is an important crop because it provides an inexpensive source of protein for both the urban and rural poor farmers. Nigeria accounts for 70% of the
23
world’s cowpea production (Alghali, 1991). The grain is valued for its flavour and the plant is generally accepted by farmers especially as a supplementary feed for their animals during the critical time in the dry season. Cowpea haulms have been found to increase microbial nitrogen supply in ruminants when used as supplement to Teff straw (Abule et al., 1995). Cowpea haulms also promote intake of maize stover, improve rumen ammonia concentration and degradation of maize stover (Chakeredza et al., 2002).
Almost all the farmers in the dry savanna own ruminant livestock and intercrop two types of local cowpea cultivars (Dan- Ila and Kanannado) in alternate rows with millet and/or sorghum in the same field, one for grain and the other for fodder. The grain type of cowpea is first harvested together with millet while the late cowpea is left in the field until the onset of dry season. In case there are late rains the fodder type cowpea produce some grain as well and the fodder is cut and rolled into bundles and kept on rooftops and tree forks for feeding and income (Singh, 2000).
However, farmers’crops and fodder yields are low because the local cultivars are shaded due to intercropping and drought due to early cessation of rains and inadequate capital resources for purchasing inputs such as insecticides and intercropping to minimize risk which characterized the practice of most West African poor resource farmers (Singh et al., 2003). This therefore led to a search for an ideal dual purpose type of cowpea cultivar such as (IT90K-277-2) with intermediate maturity that produce both substantial grain and fodder after millet harvest in the intercrop fields as practiced by farmers.
Justification
Previous studies (Singh et al., 2011) have shown that there is little improvement in sheep performance when supplemented with about 300g cowpea haulms per day. In all of the trials, cowpea haulms were only fed once daily. With regards to Nitrogen degradability of cowpea being
24
very rapid, it is likely that the extra protein provided when fed greater amounts of cowpea are lost as ammonia in the rumen and is expelled as urine, resulting in an energy cost to the animal. Therefore, if greater amounts of cowpea haulms were fed in smaller amounts during the day, this may improve animal intake and performance. Also chemical composition, in vitro gas production and in situ disappearance of some improved varieties of cowpea haulms indicated higher CP, readily soluble DM and CP, lower NDF and ADF. This could serve as a source of nitrogenous supplement to improve the productivity of ruminants fed poor quality diet (Antwi et al., 2014). Cowpea haulms also are cheaper than that of groundnut and hence farmers may find it cheaper to use and could be more profitable in feeding with the aim of the targeted production (fattening or milk).One of the defined activities for the SSA Challenge Program was the development and dispersal of livestock feeding strategies.
The main objectives were therefore to:
A) Define appropriate feeding strategies by a thorough understanding of both the livestock and feed resources available to farmers
B) To evaluate the nutritive value of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) haulms as supplement to sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) stover fed to Yankasa rams at different levels and frequencies.
Specific objectives were to:
i. Survey livestock production system, feeds and feeding strategies by the local farmers in the study area
ii. To determine the nutritive value of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) haulms and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) stover.
25
iii. To determine the effect of inclusion levels of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) haulms in the diet and feeding frequency on growth performance of Yankasa rams fed a basal diet of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) stover.
iv. To determine the effect of inclusion levels of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) haulms in the diets and feeding frequency on nutrients digestibility in Yankasa rams fed a basal diet of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) stover.
v. To evaluate the carcass characteristics of fattened Yankasa rams and economics of production on feeding sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) stover supplemented with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) haulms at different levels and frequencies.
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