A Study on Feed Stuffs Role in Enhancing the Productivity of Milch Animals in Pakistan- Existing Scenario and Future Prospect

摘要

Agriculture sector serves as the backbone of Pakistan’s economy by contributing 21.4% to nationalGDP. The share of livestock sector in agricultural GDP is more than 11%. Pakistan is blessed with 39.7 millionheads of cattle and 34.6 million buffalos. The gross milk production in Pakistan is around 51 million tons whichis not sufficient enough to meet the needs of over 182 million masses. The productivity of milch animals inPakistan is much low as compared to their known high potential. Under nourishment is one of the key factorsbehind poor performance of milch animals. Roughages and concentrate constitute the feed resources but dairyanimals are deficient by 29 and 33% in total digestible nutrients (TDN) and crude protein (CP) respectively.There is a dire need to initiate a breeding program to produce quality seed of forage crops and an extensionprogram should be launched to make farmers aware of latest production technology of forage crops. Foragetrees such as moringa must be incorporated into the forage supply chain. Rangelands are needed to beprotected from overuse and a governing body needs to be constituted to manage the rangelands on scientificbasis to enhance the milk production by improving the productivity of milch animals.