Agro 271

• Grassland Agriculture

  • Emphasizes the importance of grasses and legumes in livestock and land management
  • Dependence on grasses, legumes, and other forage for proper land use and increased animal profitability
• Flesh of animals that graze on pastures provides the main source of protein & fats
• Staple foods from grasses

  • Maize in the Americas
  • Rice in Asia
  • Wheat, Rye, Barley & Oats in Europe
  • Sorghums in Africa (& India)
• Improvement of ruminant livestock production in the tropics

  1. Increasing productivity of already utilized resources through breeding & better management

  2. Introduction and development of new or little-used resources like Prosopis, Leuceana, calliandra
• Grasslands comprise 24% of the world's vegetation and extend over about 46 million km2
• Constraints/Characteristics in Pasture Land Production

  • Poor nutrition
  • Low reproductive rates
  • Poor disease control
  • Poor traditional system of management
  • Alien concept of sowing forage crops
• Main feeding systems for ruminants in intensively cropped areas are based on crop residue, stubbles, grazing areas, and by-products like rice bran
• Integration of grassland farming into a farming program

  1. Covers the land to protect it from the weather

  2. Renews organic matter

  3. Prevents soil erosion

  4. Arrests gully formation

  5. Improves soil tilth
• Tropics and sub-tropics contain a significant proportion of the world's total ruminant population
• Grass is used for various purposes like building homes, furniture, lawns, sports fields, cosmetics, and medicines
• Grains of grasses provide the main basis of man's carbohydrate diet
• Livestock development schemes should first consider improvement of fodder resources
• Concept of sowing forage crops for grazing animals is alien to most farmers and herdsmen in the tropics
• Improvement of animal production within arable cropping systems

  1. Integration of forage production within rotational systems

  2. Proper balance of depleting row crops and conserving forages

  3. Supporting practices like contouring, strip-cropping, and terraces adapted to the capabilities of the land
• Opportunities for large-scale pasture development for cattle grazing will be limited
• Large areas of marginal lands in high rainfall tropics are under rainforest
• There is major potential to increase the areas available for grazing animals
• Other areas in the wet tropics not under rainforests are under natural grassland
• Availability of capital is a major limitation in grassland agriculture development projects
• Shortage of trained manpower affects pasture agronomy, tropical animal husbandry, and veterinary science
• A survey found a need to quickly augment the national manpower pool of persons professionally trained in agriculture-related sciences
• Grassland agriculture requires sound farm management for successful long-term results
• Soil, climate, and factors governing grass and legume production determine the intensity of grassland agriculture in different regions
• Proposals for large-scale clearing for crop or pasture development should consider timber resource, watershed management, and wildlife conservation
• There are large areas of marginal land suitable for development with sown pastures due to insufficient rainfall, low nutrient status, or difficult soil to cultivate traditionally
• In the tropics, most fertile areas cleared of forest are already densely settled and devoted to cropping
• Improvement of animal production

  1. Integration of forage production within rotational systems

  2. Better utilization of crop residues, by-products, and wastes in combination with supplements

  3. Integration of sown pasture with tropical plantation crops

  4. Designing a stratified animal-production cropping system
• Social and land tenure problems must be considered in all livestock development projects
• Low-land (Ranching) zones have grasslands with potential for improvement through correct use of fertilizers and introduction of adapted pasture grass and legume species
• A sound national grassland philosophy must be developed before grassland agriculture can be practiced widely on individual farms
• Definitions of Pasture Technologies

  • Herbage that can be grazed or browsed upon or harvested for animal fodder
  • An enclosed area where animals can graze or browse
• Research on grassland problems involves studying the forage, the animal consuming it, and the soil it anchors and nourishes
• Lack of experienced property managers in herd management, machinery use, and pasture-seed production is a limitation to large-scale development
• Sod

  A piece of grassland vegetation with roots and soil
• Turf


  The matted covering of grass with roots, suggesting a short dense sward
• Grazing


  Action of animals consuming grasses and herbs directly from standing pastures
• Browse


  NOUN: Edible parts of trees, bushes, and other woody-stemmed plants available for animal consumption, mainly leaves, twigs, and fruits. VERB: The act of consuming browse
• Forbs


  Herbaceous plants other than grasses and grass-like plants such as sedges
• Forage


  NOUN: All vegetation available as food for livestock or game animals. VERB: The act of looking for and eating food
• Meadow

  An area of grassland for grazing or hay harvesting