Nutritive Value of Selected Naturally Growing Dry Season Pastures in Flood Plains of Kafue River in Southern Zambia
Keywords:
Digestibility, Forage, Livestock, Wetland, Kafue Flats, Zambia
Abstract
Wetlands are an important source of pastures for livestock forage in the dry season in arid and semi-arid regions. In this study forage samples were collected during the dry season (September to November) to evaluate the nutritive value for potential to supply livestock requirements during dry season under the transhumance system of livestock production in the Kafue Flood Plains in Mazabuka district of Southern Province. The frequency, height and cover of the grass species in upper and lower parts of the grazing area were measured. Proximate components, fibre fractions and in vitro dry matter digestibility were determined using standard laboratory procedures. The grass species found in the upper land were Acroceras macrum, and Vetiveria nigritana at the frequency of 60 and 56 percent, respectively. Panicum repens, Polygonum spp and Cyperus papyrus are the grass species that were found in the lower area at a frequency of 44, 52 and 80 percent. Ground cover was 69 and 100 % for upper and lower area, respectively. The Crude Protein was significantly different among the species Vetiveria nigritana (7.90%) and Polygonum salicifolium (8.46 %), Cyperus papyrus (6.12%) and were also higher than for Panicum repens (3.37%) and Acroceras macrum (3.32%) (p ˂ 0.05). Crude fiber ranged from 12.8% (Polygonum salicifolium) to 34.6% (Vetiveria nigritana). Polygonum salicifolium had higher in vitro dry matter digestibility (INVDMD) (50.8%) followed by Vetiveria nigritana (46.4%), Cyperus papyrus (44.5%), Panicum repens (39.9%) and Acroceras macrum (39.7%) at (p ˂ 0.05). These results clearly shown that the some of the grass species of the Kafue flat have good nutrition content and therefore are a good source of nutrition for ruminants in the dry seasonReferences
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27. Tilley JMA and Terry R A ,1963 A two-stage technique for the in-vitro digestion of forage crops. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18: 104-111.
28. Usandizaga F, Silvana C.; Brugnoli, Elsa Andrea; Weiss, Alejandra I.; Zilli, Alex Leonel; Schedler, M.; et al.,.; Genetic and morphological characterization of Acroceras macrum Stapf.; Wiley; Grass and Forage Science; 70; 4; 11-2014; 695–704.
2. Akhtar M Z, Khan A, Sarwar M and Javaid A, 2007. Influence of soil and forage minerals on buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) haemoglobinaria. AsianAustralian J. Ani. Sci., 20: 393-393.
3. AOAC, 1990 Official Methods of Analysis (15th edn.) Association of Official Analytical Chemists (15th edn.). Washington, DC.
4. Blaser WJ, 2013 Impact of woody encroachment on soil-plantherbivore interactions in the Kafue Flats floodplain ecosystem, PhD thesis, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
5. Chabwela H, Chomba C, Chimbali D, Malama M, 2018 Rangeland condition and herbage utilization by herbivores of the Kafue flats north Bank: A historical perspective before the construction of the Itezhi-Tezhi dam, Zambia. Open Journal of Ecology. 2018;8(02):126.
6. Chibinga OC, Nyangito MM, Musimba NRK, Simbaya J and Daura MT 2016: Effect of coppicing levels on the re-growth of Julbernardia globiflora. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 28, Article #42. Retrieved September 12, 2023, from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd28/3/chib2 8042.htm
7. Chibinga OC, Musimba NM, Nyangito M, and Simbaya J, 2010 Climate variability: pastoralists’ perception, practices and enhancing adaptive pasture use for food security in Choma district, southern Zambia. In: RUFORUM Second Biennial Meeting. Presented at the RUFORUM, Entebbe, Uganda.
8. Chibinga OC, Musimba N., Nyangito M, Simbaya J. and Daura MT 2012 Chemical Composition and in-vitro Dry Matter Digestibility of Leaves of Julbernardia globiflora. Research Journal of Animal Sciences, 6: 30-34.
9. Dudley RG, 1979. Changes in growth and size distribution of Sarotherodon-Macrochir and arotherodon-Andersoni from the Kafue Floodplain, Zambia, since construction of the Kafue Gorge dam. Journal of Fish Biology 14, 205-223
10. Giridhar KS, Prabhu TM, Singh KC, Nagabhushan V, Thirumalesh T, Rajeshwari YB, Umashankar BC, (2018) Nutritional potentialities of some tree leaves based on polyphenols and rumen in-vitro gas production, Veterinary World, 11(10): 1479-1485
11. Griswold KE, Apgar GA, Bouton J and Firkins JL, 2003. Effects of urea infusion and ruminal degradable protein concentration on microbial growth, digestibility and fermentation in continuous culture. Journal of Animal Science, 81: 329-336.
12. Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. and Coates Palgrave, M. (2023). Flora of Botswana: Species information: Acroceras macrum. https://www.botswanaflora.com/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=106640, retrieved 12 September 2023
13. Inam-ur-Rahim 1999. Identification, yield, palatability and nutritional evaluation of consumable forage species at various elevations and aspects in Chagharzai valley of Malakand division in TransHimalayan range. Ph. D Thesis. U.A.F. Pakistan.
14. Njau FBC, Lwelamira J and Hyandye C, 2013 Ruminant livestock production and quality of pastures in the communal grazing land of semi arid central Tanzania. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 25, Article #146. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd25/8/Njau25146.htm’.
15. Kearl L C, 1982 Nutrients Requirements of Ruminants in Developing Countries. 1st Edn, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
16. Kulich J and Kaluba EM, 1984 Pasture Research and Development in Zambia in Pasture Improvement Research in Eastern and Southern Africa: proceedings of a workshop held in Harare, Zimbabwe, 17-21 Sept. 1984. Ottawa, Ont., IDRC, 1985. 508 p.: ill
17. Leng RA, 1990 Factors affecting the utilization of “poor quality” forage by ruminants particularly under tropical conditions. Nutr. Res. Rev. 3: 277-303
18. Muma JB, Godfroid J, Samui KL and Skjerve E 2006 The role of Brucella infection in abortions among traditional cattle reared in proximity to wildlife on the Kafue flats of Zambia. Rev. sci. tech. Off. int. Epiz., 2007, 26 (3), 721-730
19. Mumba M, Thompson JR. 2005 Hydrological and ecological impacts of dams on the Kafue flats floodplain system, southern Zambia. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C. 30(6-7):442-447.
20. Minitab 2012. Minitab reference manual release 16.2.3.0. User’s guide to statistics. Minitab., USA.
21. Ondiek JO, Abdulrazak SA, Tuitoek JK, Bareeba FB and Fujihara T, 2000Use of Leucaena leucocephala andGliricidia as nitrogen source in supplementary concentrates for dairy goats offered Rhodes grass hay. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal science 13:1249-1254
22. Rojas-Sandoval J., 2023. Panicum repens (torpedo grass). CABI Compendium Pest, Invasive species, Host plant. https://doi.org/10.1079/cabicompendium.38670.
23. Scott WP 2003. Integrated Kafue River Basin Environmental Impact Assessment Study. State of Environment Report, Ministry of Energy and Water Development, OPPPI/ZESCO Limited.
24. Shanungu G., 2017 Restoration of the Kafue Flats for People and Nature WWF Zambia https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/final_invasive_species web.pdf.
25. Simbaya J, Chibinga O. and Salem A ZM, 2020 Nutritional evaluation of selected fodder trees: Mulberry (Molus alba Lam.), Leucaena (Leucaena luecocephala Lam de Wit.) and Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) as dry season protein supplements for grazing animals. Agroforest Syst 94, 1189–1197 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-020-00504-7.
26. Sultan J I, Inam-Ur-Rahim M, Yaqoob M I, Mustafa H, Nawaz and Akhtar P, 2009 Nutritional Evaluation of Herbs as Fodder Source for Ruminants. Pak. J. Bot., 41: 2765-2776.
27. Tilley JMA and Terry R A ,1963 A two-stage technique for the in-vitro digestion of forage crops. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18: 104-111.
28. Usandizaga F, Silvana C.; Brugnoli, Elsa Andrea; Weiss, Alejandra I.; Zilli, Alex Leonel; Schedler, M.; et al.,.; Genetic and morphological characterization of Acroceras macrum Stapf.; Wiley; Grass and Forage Science; 70; 4; 11-2014; 695–704.
Published
2023-10-27
How to Cite
1.
Gondwe S, Chibinga O, Kanyinji F. Nutritive Value of Selected Naturally Growing Dry Season Pastures in Flood Plains of Kafue River in Southern Zambia. Journal of Agricultural and Biomedical Sciences [Internet]. 27Oct.2023 [cited 12Jul.2025];7(1). Available from: https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/JABS/article/view/1084
Section
Agriculture Sciences
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