Leonard, Mwaura Mburu (2015) Effect of Seasonality of Feed Resources on Dairy Cattle Production in Coastal Lowlands of Kenya. PhD thesis, University of Nairobi.
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Abstract
In the Coastal Lowlands of Kenya, small-scale integrated crop-livestock system is the dominant form of agricultural production. Feed quantity and quality are inadequate and rarely meets the nutrient demands of lactating cows especially, in the dry seasons. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of seasonality on availability and quality of feed resources on dairy cattle productivity in Coastal Lowlands of Kenya. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Kwale and Kilifi counties on a random sample of 415 dairy cattle farms followed by a longitudinal survey on a purposive sample of 32 farms from the cross-sectional sample over a period of 12 months. Data from the cross-sectional survey was analyzed for descriptive statistics. Two-Step cluster analysis was used to classify small-scale farmers using variables selected apriori and identified four distinct clusters. The validity and stability of the 4-clusters solution was tested by splitting the sample into two sub-samples according to counties and cluster analyzed separately using the variables selected apriori. Discriminant analysis was done using demographic and socio-economic variables not previously considered in the cluster procedure in order to ascertain the profile of each cluster. The mean herd size was 3.9 of which 30.7% were lactating cows. The mean milk yield/cow/day was 5.7 litres with 44% of farms producing < 5 litres/cow/day. The mean land size was 5.3 acres with 68.4% of households’ having < 6 acres. For the whole sample, 30.4, 28.8, 20.6 and 20.2% of the households were classified into clusters 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Each cluster had unique characteristics which would help define research and development policy priorities based on resource base, opportunities and constraints. The mean CP and NDF of pasture grasses ranged from 84.1 - 97.1 and 603.8 - 724.8 g/kg DM respectively. Leucaena leucocephala had the highest CP of 270.8 g/kg DM. Asystacia gangetica and Commelina benghalensis had a CP content of 131.8 and 162.7 g/kg DM respectively. Napier grass had a CP of 86.4 g/kg DM. Maize stover and green maize forage had CP of 72.2 and 112.8 g/kg DM respectively. The mean CP of maize germ and maize bran was 104.4 and 129.3 g/kg DM with 33.5% and 24.6% utilization respectively. A. gangetica, C. benghalensis, L. leucocephala and maize forage had higher in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) (> 50%) compared to maize stover, pastures grasses and napier grass. Pastures grasses IVDMD ranged from 40.3 - 44.7%. In situ rumen DM and CP disappearances were measured at 0, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72 hours of incubation using mobile nylon bag technique. The CP disappearance ranged from 16.81 - 23.54%, 9.91 -17.96%, 20.02%, 9.56%, 13.95% and 20.99% at zero time and 50.64 - 58.47%, 39.11 - 49.46%, 45.78%, 33.49%, 40.25% and 55.22% at 48 hours for weeds, pasture grasses napier grass, maize stover, green maize forage and L. leucocephala respectively. The potential degradability of DM ranged from 60.22 - 72.99% for weeds, 45.52 - 65.8% for pastures, 54.73% for maize stover, 82.24% for green maize forage, 64.16% for napier grass to 74.44% for L. leucocephala. Effective degradability (ED) of DM and CP decreased with increase in outflow rates of 2, 5 and 8% and differed significantly (P < 0.05) between roughages. The ED of DM ranged from 18.68 - 30.13% and 35.48 - 49.23% at outflow rates of k=8 and k=2 for P. maximum and L. leucocephala respectively. At the same outflow rates, the ED of CP ranged from 20.6 - 29.2% and 36.6 - 51.2% for the two. Pastures grasses occupied 56.4% (414.5 ha) of land and contributed 55.2% of feed resource. Maize occupied 63.5% of cultivated land and yielded 430.1 mt DM/year of maize stover while napier grass occupied 29.3% and contributed 15.1% of basal feed resource. The estimated annual on-farm feed production and animal requirements was 3,865 and 5,004 mt DM respectively. The annual on-farm feed DM production met cattle requirements during April-June season only. The mean animal live weight change (MLWC) ranged from 168 to 268 g/day for season III (January-March) and season IV (April - June) respectively. The average milk production (AMP) ranged from 4.7 - 5.6 litres/cow/day for season III and season I respectively. Pooling all available feed resources for 12 months through appropriate storage and carry-over between seasons decreased MLWC from 268 to 257 g/day in season IV but increased from 264 to 274, 261 to 278 and 168 to 187 g/day in seasons I, II and III respectively. The AMP followed the same trend as MLWC, decreasing in season IV and increasing in seasons I, II and III. This showed that dairy cattle obtained enough nutrients only in season IV. In conclusion, the crop-livestock production systems in study area were classified into four distinct clusters with distinct production characteristics. Productivity was low within all the clusters and was attributed to poor quality cows and inadequate forage whose availability was seasonal. The available forages were of moderate quality with average to high rumen degradability. There was a deficit in DM availability during the dry season which could be remedied through conserving excess feed during the wet season. These results could be used to develop an integrated forage production and livestock nutrition management plan to provide sufficient year-round feed supply based on animal requirements and supplementation strategies
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General) |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | Mr Jude Abhulimen |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Jan 2017 11:10 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Jan 2017 06:32 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/1011 |
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