Fussy eaters: improving the benefits of dry-season feed. Validated RNRRS Output.
Abstract
This is one of 280 summaries describing key outputs from the projects run by DFID's 10-year Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) programmes.
Summary for Project title: R5188: Improving the use of sorghum stover as ruminant feed in Ethiopia.
A newly developed self-selection technique can boost the amount that stall-fed animals will eat. Sorghum stover is a traditional and important dry-season forage in countries like Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya. However, it isn't particularly nutritious or palatable—so animals often don't each as much as they should. Research has found, however, that giving animals much more stover than they need allows them to select the tastiest bits of feed. This means that they eat much more. Plus, the feed that they reject isn't wasted, because it can be treated with urea to make it more palatable and then fed to them again. Promoting this simple technique could make a real difference to the lives of smallholders who struggle to keep their animals healthy.
The CD has the following information for this output: Description, Validation, Current Situation, Current Promotion, Impacts On Poverty, Environmental Impact. Attached PDF (18 pp.) taken from the CD.
Citation
LPP06, New technologies, new processes, new policies: tried-and-tested and ready-to-use results from DFID-funded research, Research Into Use Programme, Aylesford, Kent, UK, ISBN 978-0-9552595-6-2, p 64.