Traditional Fodder Production Practices

Farmers of the Northern Areas are aware of the need for maximizing quantity as well as quality of fodder and have therefore, evolved the following practices:

m Have compromised for grain production by retaining tall growing wheat and maize varieties with a low harvest index and lot of wheat straw and maize stalks. Some improved wheat varieties e.g. Chakwal-86, Chakwal-97, MH-97, Shagetri, Suleman-96 and Maize varieties i.e. NA-III, # Chilas Composit, Azam, Kisan-90 given in table 18, are better for some areas for straw/fodder yield.

m C e real crops like wheat and maize are planted at 2-3 times than the recommended seed rates in order to maximize straw/stover production to allow thinning for green fodder.

m A variety of trees are planted along field boundaries and on marginal lands not suited for crop production. The leaves and bark of these trees provide supplementary sources of fodder during winter. In some villages, the dried leaves are collected and stored for winter use.

m Summer grazing at high altitudes in alpine pastures is exploited to the maximum.

m Small areas of high quality leguminous fodder crops are cultivated—shaftal for green feeding during spring and lucerne for drying as winter hay feed. Lucerne varieties Sunder gives double the yield of local ones.

m About 70-80 percent of the available total digestible nutrients (TDN) are obtained in the form of dry maize stalks and wheat straw. The animals cannot eat enough to satisfy their diet requirements especially protein. The efficiency of feed conversion could be improved by preservation of straw through urea supplements and feeding grains for high milk.

Maize is grown mainly in double-cropped regions after wheat, but it is also grown in the shorter-season single-cropped areas where fodder becomes the main use.

Grain yield are usually poor, and there is much potential to select better adapted cultivars. Little is known of the relationship between plant stand, time of thinning, and final fodder dry-matter yield. Good yields require large fertilizer applications.

Livestock feed production is a critical component of the farming system. Alfalfa occupies a key place, particularly in single-crop areas. Use of the fodder legumes is small in comparison to alfalfa but could increase with the identification of suitable new species and development of appropriate management systems

Fodder brassicas such as mangels and fodder beets, turnips, rapes, and kales are exceptionally productive and can provide forage into the winter and early spring, mix cropping has also great potentiality for increased fodder production in NA.

Other crops grown as fodder, mainly comprise lucerne which is grown in both the double and single crop zones and annual shaftal and some cash crops. Potatoes and vegetables being the most important.

It is evident from the above table that the mix cropping of Oats + Berseem, Ry e g r a s s + Berseem, Oats + Shaftal and Ryegrass + Shaftal was better than single cropping of these crops. Mix cropping of oats and berseem was the best combination pro d u c i n g a mean fresh fodder yield of 164.945 tones as compared to shaftal (101.428) tones per h e c t a re. As such there is a net increase of 63.517 tones per hectare. It was also experienced that under the climatic conditions of Chilas the first cutting out of these

34

c rop was obtained in January/February (the period of acute shortage of fodder) p rovided that the crop is sown during October /early November.

2.2.1.1. Mixed cropping for fodder

During 1993-97 NAAgriculture Dept. has carried out field trials on mixed cropping of oats and berseem. This can give 164.94 T/ha fodder yield as compared to shaftal (local) grown alone, which gives only 118.65 T/ha. The differential yield can go a long way in meeting the fodder shortage. Ray grass + Berseem, oats + shaftal have given 143.50 T/ha and 142.55 T/ha yield of fodder, respectively. This reflects that mixed cropping can help overcome fodder shortage. Thus there is scope for research in this area.

2.2.1.2. Double cropping farms

Fodder derived from the agricultural base comprises mainly maize-stover and some wheat straw, supported by green-fed spring/early summer shaftal (Trifolium resupinatum)

Fodder produced on farm is insufficient and animals therefore, mostly rely on the off farm fodder areas. Because farm sizes are small, there is considerable reluctance on the part of the farmers to grow more than the minimum of fodder, and some with areas too small to produce sufficient crops residue may purchase maize stover or wheat straw. All arable land is dedicated to main crops of maize and wheat. The entire area is planted to maize at very high seed rates, which is thinned during the growing season and the thinning is used as fodder There is no under-sowing of maize with legumes at the time to thinning. The nutritional quality of winter fed fodders does not meet the requirements for maintenance. At present as little as 30%

of Dry Matter (DM) and less Digestible Protein (DP) and Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) are provided from farm resources. The livestock are reported to lose up to 20%of live weight over the winter period on these farms.

2.2.1.3. Single cropping farms

Where irrigation is available mainly maize and occasionally wheat are planted. In addition some shaftal, followed by eight months of fallow.. The lower pastures above the villages may be planted to perennial lucerne which is cut and hayed for

35

Table 29: Fodder crop production potential in Northern Areas under optimal management conditions (Years of experimentation and mean fresh fodder yield in kg from an area of 6. sq. m)

Name of Crop 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 Total Mean Yield (T/ha) Oats + Berseem 105.750 110.580 80.570 296.900 98.967 164.945 Ryegrass + Berseem 92.780 88.760 76.890 258.330 86.110 143.517 Oats + Shaftal 84.550 88.380 81.820 254.750 84.917 141.528 Ryegrass + Shaftal 82.560 87.250 77.820 247.630 82.542 137.570

Oats 81.880 80.330 73.650 235.860 78.620 131.033

Ryegrass 77.320 75.830 71.330 224.480 74.827 124.712

Berseem 75.360 72.450 79.150 216.960 72.320 120.533

Shaftal (Local Check) 63.090 61.380 58.100 182.570 60.857 101.428

Grand mean 133.221

storage as winter fodder. However, the cutting of hay in full bloom reduces the feed value in all other respects. Livestock have access to summer pasture grazing in the same manner and to the same conditions prevalent in the other farm types.

2.2.1.4. Improved maize varieties vs. local maize

Majority of farmers plant local maize varieties, which are disease prone and low in fodder, stover and grain yields. In the past no serious effects were made to evaluate and select improved maize cultivates for Northern Areas. There are quite a few improved maize varieties/hybrids available in Pakistan which can be evaluated for selection of suitable cultivars with maximum fodder, stover and grain yield potential for NA. This extra yield will finally improve livestock health and productivity. With this objective, three improved maize cultivars and one local check were evaluated for green and stover yields at different locations in NA by Muhammad (1993). The results are summarized in Tables 30 and 31.

The improved maize varieties were superior in dry matter, grain yield, and stover yield than the local maize at all the locations (Table 31). The improved varieties produced 1.5 to 3 times more yields as compared to local ones.

36

Table 30: Green and dry matter yields (T/ha) of maize varieties at three d i fferent sited in the Northern Areas

Sites

Varieties Gilgit Khaiber Skardu

GWT DWT GWT DWT GWT DWT

C777 54 22 40 18 50 21

Shahanshah 60 25 44 19 57 24

LM 2092 44 20 38 16 42 19

Local maize 30 15 26 12 28 13

Average 47 21 37 16 32 19

Note: Sowing dates were May 1993; row to tow distance was 30cms; and fertilizer was applied @ 200kg nitrophos and 100kg urea/ha.

Table 31: Grain stover yields (T/ha) of improved and local maize varieties at three different locations in the Northern Areas of Pakistan

Sites

Varieties Gilgit Chilas Skardu

Grain Stover Grain Stover Grain Stover

C777 5.50 38 4 34 3.25 30

Shahanshah 5 40 4 36 3 3.5

LM2092 6 35 5 32 4 29

Gauhar 3.75 26 3.50 24.26 3.35 23.26

Azam 4.50 31 4.24 28.38 4.03 28.03

Pehari 3.40 23.56 3.16 21.89 3 20.08

Kisan 3.25 22.52 3.12 21.62 3.20 22.19

Local 2.25 16 2.30 15 2 17

Average 4.24 29.01 3.67 26.89 3.23 25.57

Note: Sowing dates were June 1993 at Gilgit and Chilas and May 1993 at Skardu. The fertilizer was applied @ 200kg nitrophos and 100kg urea/ha.

A slight decrease in yield was observed with the increase in altitude. This variation in yield might be partly attributed to low temperatures, poor soil fertility and short growing seasons at high altitude areas like Khyber, Yasin, and Skardu.

It might be important to point out that all the improved maize varieties evaluated were 20-30 days late in maturity than the local maize. All the improved varieties had broader leaves and 2-3 cobs per plant with stay green traits as compared to small leaves with 1 cob per plant in local maize. None of the improved variety could fit into the local maturity limit for maize, in comparatively high altitude of double cropping zone. Any maize variety to be successful in the area must be white seeded and mature till 15th October otherwise free grazing livestock will destroy.

Therefore, future efforts ought to be concentrated on selecting high yielding varieties with more or less similar maturity period. Some selection has been made from NA-I for early maturity with the same high yielding potentiality otherwise it will be difficult to protect the crop from free grazing animals after 15th October.

As the maize accounts for about 20 percent of the cereal crop in NAoverall there is a need to increase production to satisfy an increasing population, whilst the anticipated more commercial approach to livestock production is also likely to increase demand. To find varieties of short enough duration has proved very difficult. The future programme should include hybrids and varieties from a wider range of sources (Kenya has high altitude varieties of 100 days duration). Promising varieties should also be tested in the other areas.