Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya
Brachiaria grass is a “climate smart” forage that produces high amount of palatable and nutritious biomass for livestock and performs well in infertile soils, sequesters carbon in soil, and provides several environmental benefits. The objective of the study was to validate the productivity of Brachi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Book Chapter |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Springer
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152145 |
| _version_ | 1855526048509198336 |
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| author | Njarui, D. M. G. Gatheru, M. Ghimire, S. R. |
| author_browse | Gatheru, M. Ghimire, S. R. Njarui, D. M. G. |
| author_facet | Njarui, D. M. G. Gatheru, M. Ghimire, S. R. |
| author_sort | Njarui, D. M. G. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Brachiaria grass is a “climate smart” forage that produces high amount of palatable and nutritious biomass for livestock and performs well in infertile soils, sequesters carbon in soil, and provides several environmental benefits. The objective of the study was to validate the productivity of Brachiaria grass and upscale the suitable cultivars for improved livestock feed resources in Kenya. We assume integrating Brachiaria grass into mixed crop-livestock system will enhance feed availability and livestock productivity, leading to increased food and nutrition security. Farmer participatory approach was adopted to evaluate and promote four Brachiaria grass (Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk, B. brizantha cvs. Xaraes, Piata, and MG-4) in the Central Highland and Eastern Midland of Kenya. The extension/advisory approaches used to promote Brachiaria grass cultivars included field days, village knowledge centres, agricultural shows, posters, and linkages with other institutions through multi-actor platform established under the InnovAfrica project. Generally, Brachiaria grass cultivars were more productive than the control (Rhodes grass) in most harvests reaching peak of 5.1–7.7 t/ha in the fifth harvest. For Rhodes grass, DM was less than 4 t/ha in all harvest and died by sixth harvest. Similarly, based on farmers’ evaluation using phenotypic traits, the Brachiaria grass cultivars had higher score than Rhodes grass except cv. Piata. The mean score ranged from 2.75 to 3.19 for Brachiaria cultivars, while for Rhodes the mean score was 2.63. Within 2 years of intervention, over 4000 farmers in the 2 project sites and additional 1500 farmers from other parts of the country have planted the Brachiaria grass. The demand for Brachiaria grass seeds is increasing due to benefits gained, e.g., increased milk production from dairy cattle fed on the grass. Our study will quantify the associated benefits from cultivation of Brachiaria grass with respect to a set of ecological, food and nutrition security, and social-economic indicators. |
| format | Book Chapter |
| id | CGSpace152145 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer |
| publisherStr | Springer |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1521452024-09-14T18:55:58Z Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya Njarui, D. M. G. Gatheru, M. Ghimire, S. R. livestock nutrition farmers climate cattle productivity evaluation production indicators forage food soil seeds institutions brachiaria milk production cultivars cultivation milk biomass nutrition security livestock production brachiaria decumbens resources demand knowledge extension dairy cattle system feed resources economic indicators soils dairy intervention livestock feed participatory harvest benefits crop-livestock feed phenotypic traits farmer Brachiaria grass is a “climate smart” forage that produces high amount of palatable and nutritious biomass for livestock and performs well in infertile soils, sequesters carbon in soil, and provides several environmental benefits. The objective of the study was to validate the productivity of Brachiaria grass and upscale the suitable cultivars for improved livestock feed resources in Kenya. We assume integrating Brachiaria grass into mixed crop-livestock system will enhance feed availability and livestock productivity, leading to increased food and nutrition security. Farmer participatory approach was adopted to evaluate and promote four Brachiaria grass (Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk, B. brizantha cvs. Xaraes, Piata, and MG-4) in the Central Highland and Eastern Midland of Kenya. The extension/advisory approaches used to promote Brachiaria grass cultivars included field days, village knowledge centres, agricultural shows, posters, and linkages with other institutions through multi-actor platform established under the InnovAfrica project. Generally, Brachiaria grass cultivars were more productive than the control (Rhodes grass) in most harvests reaching peak of 5.1–7.7 t/ha in the fifth harvest. For Rhodes grass, DM was less than 4 t/ha in all harvest and died by sixth harvest. Similarly, based on farmers’ evaluation using phenotypic traits, the Brachiaria grass cultivars had higher score than Rhodes grass except cv. Piata. The mean score ranged from 2.75 to 3.19 for Brachiaria cultivars, while for Rhodes the mean score was 2.63. Within 2 years of intervention, over 4000 farmers in the 2 project sites and additional 1500 farmers from other parts of the country have planted the Brachiaria grass. The demand for Brachiaria grass seeds is increasing due to benefits gained, e.g., increased milk production from dairy cattle fed on the grass. Our study will quantify the associated benefits from cultivation of Brachiaria grass with respect to a set of ecological, food and nutrition security, and social-economic indicators. 2021 2024-09-11T09:26:02Z 2024-09-11T09:26:02Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152145 en Open Access Springer Njarui, D. M. G., Gatheru, M., & Ghimire, S. R. (2021). Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya. African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation, 755–776. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45106-6_146 |
| spellingShingle | livestock nutrition farmers climate cattle productivity evaluation production indicators forage food soil seeds institutions brachiaria milk production cultivars cultivation milk biomass nutrition security livestock production brachiaria decumbens resources demand knowledge extension dairy cattle system feed resources economic indicators soils dairy intervention livestock feed participatory harvest benefits crop-livestock feed phenotypic traits farmer Njarui, D. M. G. Gatheru, M. Ghimire, S. R. Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya |
| title | Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya |
| title_full | Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya |
| title_short | Brachiaria Grass for Climate Resilient and Sustainable Livestock Production in Kenya |
| title_sort | brachiaria grass for climate resilient and sustainable livestock production in kenya |
| topic | livestock nutrition farmers climate cattle productivity evaluation production indicators forage food soil seeds institutions brachiaria milk production cultivars cultivation milk biomass nutrition security livestock production brachiaria decumbens resources demand knowledge extension dairy cattle system feed resources economic indicators soils dairy intervention livestock feed participatory harvest benefits crop-livestock feed phenotypic traits farmer |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/152145 |
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