College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

URI for this communityhttps://rps.wku.edu.et/handle/123456789/45803

College of Agriculture & Natural Resource

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    LIVESTOCK DYNAMICS, FEED BALANCE AND COPING STRATEGIES OF ENSET BASED AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM OF GURAGE ZONE: PROSPECT TOWARDS ENSET WILT
    (wolkite university, 2022) DEREJE FELEKE
    Enset wilt problem has been becoming a significan challenge to the expected level of food and feed produced from Enset plant in Enset producing areas of Ethiopia. Numerous studies have been done but it is difficult to get studies that evaluate its impact and indicate strategies that have been used to cope with this production system. A descriptive and explanatory cross-sectional survey research design was employed. Multi stage sampling was employed to select the districts, PAs and households. Five districts of Gurage zone namely Endegagn, Enemor Ener, Gumer, Cheha and Geto were selected based on the degree and experience of the areas with Enset wilt disease. The formal survey, focus group discussion, field monitoring and secondary data collection methods are employed and gathered qualitative and quantitative data. The formal survey focused on livestock and feed resources of Enset wilt -affected areas and livestock feed balance of the area. Furthermore, a chemical analysis of sample feeds was done to determine the nutritive value of available feed resource. Chi-square was employed for mean and mean comparison using an independent sample T-test and percentages. Indices were also estimated to calculate farmers’ various choices and preferences. The average land holding per household in highland and midland was 1.15 and 1.52 ha, respectively. Natural pasture ((689(0.47)) was the primary feed resource followed by ((300(0.21)) mixture of natural pasture and Enset. A decadal livestock population from the zonal level indicated that a significant cattle population increase was observed compared to other livestock species. Average livestock holding of respondents confirmed that a significant difference (p<0.05) was observed only in the number of sheep (0.173±0.97; 0.068±0.13) and equine (0.58±0.66; 0.15±0.39) between the two agro-ecologies. Shortage of land was ranked first among other feed resource availability challenges in both agro-ecologies. The estimated annual DM supply was 524.65 and 901.38 ton/year for livestock maintenance of highland and midland agro ecologies. Feed DM requirement only satisfy 85.23%. Estimated annual Metabolizable energy available for livestock maintenance in the highland and midland agro ecology were 2095097 and 6217406.35 MJ/kg for highland and midland, respectively. Feed ME requirement only satisfy 59.2% and 84.27% in highland and midland agr-ecologies. There are four major coping strategies i.e., feeding enset parts, feed conservation vs. enset, renting grazing land and selling livestock were identified. Due to enset wilt disease higher prevalence rate, using Enset crop as livestock feed was becoming a challenge, and the livestock species population dynamics is changing due to various factors that hinder livestock production coupled with enset wilt disease. Farmers are still dependent on enset plant to cope up with dry season feed shortages. Implementation of feed resource rehabilitation program is a must for this production system. Farmers should search for other locally adaptable forage species to fulfill the observed deficit at DM and nutrient base.