Chemical composition and physical characteristics of standing hay and foggage along the pasture field in Morogoro sub-urban, Tanzania
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Date
2022-12
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST)
Abstract
In-situ forage conservation in the form of standing hay is the
commonest and cheapest form of natural pasture conservation by
most agro-pastoral and pastoral communities in Sub-Saharan
Africa. Standing hay is over matured and un-harvested pasture
(mainly annual grasses). On the other hands, excessively
overstays standing hay in the field until the first rain a shower of
the next season is referred as foggage. The objective of this study
was to evaluate the nutritive value of the standing hay and
foggage of natural pastures plot rested for entire wet (growing)
and dry periods for nine months until the first rains. Standing hay
samples were taken three months before the rains while those of
foggage were obtained three weeks after the first rains. Ten
samples were taken at random from a standing hay and foggage
for determination of botanical and nutritive composition.
Standing hay and foggage did not differ significantly (P ≥ 0.05) in
terms of dry matter (DM) content (85.9 % vs 83.1 %), Crude
protein (3.8 % vs 3.3%), in vitro dry matter digestibility (34 % vs
32 %), metabolizable energy (5.3 vs 5.2 MJ/kg DM). However,
standing hay had significantly (P ≤ 0.05) less Neutral Detergent
Fiber (80 vs 82 %) and more leaf:stem ratio (2:1 vs 1.4:1) than oggage. In terms of organoleptic test scores standing hay and
foggage were not significantly (P ≥ 0.05) in touch and pollution but
foggage had significantly ((P≤ 0.05) mouldy appearance and bad smell
than standing hay. It can be concluded that tropical natural pastures
standing hay and foggage have low nutritive value yet the foggage is
very fibrous which can reduce the productivity of grazing animals.
Description
Healthy Rangelands for Sustainable Grazing Land Productivity
Keywords
Forage conservation, natural pasture, mouldy hay, leaf:stem ratio