Implications of restricted access to grazing by cattle in wet season in the Sahel

Ayantunde, A A and Fernandez-Rivera, S and Hiernaux, P H and Tabo, R (2008) Implications of restricted access to grazing by cattle in wet season in the Sahel. Journal of Arid Environments, 72 (4). pp. 523-533. ISSN 0140-1963

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Abstract

To address the problem of restricted access to grazing by cattle in wet season in the Sahel, a grazing trial was conducted to study the effect of duration of grazing and grazing method on cattle nutrition and performance. Twenty-four intact steers weighing 259 kg (SD ¼ 62) were randomly allotted to four treatments to study the effect of the combination of grazing method (tethering and close herding) and grazing duration (6 and 9 h per day) on diet selection, faecal output, forage intake, grazing behaviour and weight changes in the wet season. Three esophageally fistulated steers were used in a cross-over design to sample diet selected by tethered and herded animals. Extrusa samples from esophageally fistulated steers and faecal output from intact steers were collected in weeks 6 and 9 of the experiment and grazing behaviour of the intact steers was observed in week 6. Tethered animals selected diets of lower organic matter digestibility (OMD) but tethering had no significant effect on crude protein. Close herded steers consistently consumed more forage than those tethered in both periods. Both grazing method and duration had significant effect on ingestion rate by the steers. Tethered steers had lower average daily gain than those herded. The results demonstrate that the common practice of tethering sedentary cattle in the wet season in the southern Sahel in West Africa reduces forage intake and consequently average daily gain

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
CRP:	UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Diet selection; Forage intake; Grazing; Herd management; Tethering
Subjects:	Others
Depositing User:	Ms K Syamalamba
Date Deposited:	15 Nov 2011 09:13
Last Modified:	14 Sep 2013 11:48
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/3931
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2007.06.006
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	Global Environment Facility (GEF)
Acknowledgement:	We thank Adamou Kalilou, Harouna Garba, Mamoudou Tondi and Mamoudou Issa Koukou of ILRI Niamey, Niger for their outstanding assistance in the field and in laboratory analysis of the extrusa and faecal samples. The study was part of the project ‘‘Desert Margins Program (DMP)’’ partly funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF), with the overall goal of arresting land degradation and conservation of biodiversity in desert margins of sub-Saharan Africa
Links:	Author

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