Livestock

Commodity crops in biodiversity-rich production landscapes: Friends or foes? The example of cotton in the Mid Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe

The production and trade of agricultural commodities is a major driver of the loss of tropical biodiversity. In the Mid Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, which is home to many emblematic African mammals, cotton production has historically been a major driver …

Comparative performance of five maize varieties as livestock feed in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia

The performance of five maize varieties as livestock feed in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia was assessed. The varieties included in this study were one released open pollinated variety - Melkassa-2 - one released hybrid - BH-140 - and three candidate …

Impact of farmland exclosure on the productivity and sustainability of a mixed crop-livestock system in the central rift valley of Ethiopia

Livestock provides numerous benefits to smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa, but also represents a potential agent of environmental degradation. Exclosures have been implemented in grazing areas for the past decades in Ethiopia and have been effective …

Conservation agriculture in African mixed crop-livestock systems: Expanding the niche

Competition for crop residues between livestock feeding and soil mulching is a major cause of the low and slow adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) in sub-Saharan Africa. Retaining crop residues in the field is not only a prerequisite for CA but …

Crop residue management and soil health: A systems analysis

Due to the scarcity of alternative organic amendments, the retention of crop residue in fields can be considered key in promoting physical, chemical, and biological attributes of soil health in agricultural systems of developing countries. However, …

Multi-scale trade-off analysis of cereal residue use for livestock feeding vs. soil mulching in the Mid-Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe

Cereal residues represent a major resource for livestock feeding during the dry season in southern Africa. When kept on the soil surface instead of feeding them to livestock, crop residues can contribute to increasing soil fertility and maintaining …

Impact on productivity of peri-parturient rise in fecal egg counts in Creole goats in the humid tropics

The control of gastrointestinal nematodes requires an understanding of their epidemiology so that particular parasite stages can be targeted. Dam infection during early lactation is one example of this in ruminant nematode infections. The existence …