Dry season forages for improving dairy cattle production in smallholder dairy systems

摘要

Economically feasible strategies for year-round feed supply to dairy cattle are needed to improve feed resource availability, milk yield and household income for the smallholder dairy farming systems that dominate in the rural Eastern and Central African region. Currently, napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is the major forage in zero-grazing production systems, but production is often constrained. While forage legumes, including Centrosema pubescens and Clitoria ternatea are used to complement napier grass, Brachiaria spp, a new drought tolerant grass, is being introduced. Our results showed that the introduction of drought tolerant forage technologies improved milk yield and household income. Supplementing napier grass and forage legume mixture with Brachiaria and forage legume mixtures by 0.5 ha on farm, elevated household production levels and lead to economic returns of US$677/cow/year.