The maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the Kenyan highlands
A major constraint on smallholder dairy farms in Kenya is inadequate feed supply resulting in low productivity. In Kiambu District of the Central Highlands, principal feed resources are cultivated Napier grass, roadside grass and fodder from maize, including stover and high quality thinnings cut dur...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Conference Paper |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
British Society of Animal Science
2000
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51189 |
| _version_ | 1855524004014587904 |
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| author | Lukuyu, Ben A. Romney, Dannie L. Tanner, J.C. Thorpe, W.R. |
| author_browse | Lukuyu, Ben A. Romney, Dannie L. Tanner, J.C. Thorpe, W.R. |
| author_facet | Lukuyu, Ben A. Romney, Dannie L. Tanner, J.C. Thorpe, W.R. |
| author_sort | Lukuyu, Ben A. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | A major constraint on smallholder dairy farms in Kenya is inadequate feed supply resulting in low productivity. In Kiambu District of the Central Highlands, principal feed resources are cultivated Napier grass, roadside grass and fodder from maize, including stover and high quality thinnings cut during the growing period. An average farmer in Kiambu owns 0.8 ha of which 0.19 and 0.17 ha are dedicated to Napier and maize cultivation, respectively, and 2.2 cows producing 5.8 kg milk/day (Staal et al. 1998). Meeting the feed requirements of the dairy animals, while maintaining food production is already a challenge. There are indications that the maize crop will become increasingly important as a source of fodder (Staal et al. 1998). Methu (1998) showed that by planting 4 rather 2 maize seeds per hole, 1.9 t DM/ha of thinnings, with high energy and N content could be harvested without affecting significantly the yields of stover of grain. The present study explored further the potential of increasing production of good quality thinnings without jeopardising grain yield in a series of on-farm trials. Mean of dry matter production for fodder and grain (t/ha) showing main effect means for each farm is shown in a tabular form. |
| format | Conference Paper |
| id | CGSpace51189 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2000 |
| publishDateRange | 2000 |
| publishDateSort | 2000 |
| publisher | British Society of Animal Science |
| publisherStr | British Society of Animal Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace511892023-02-15T09:34:55Z The maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the Kenyan highlands Lukuyu, Ben A. Romney, Dannie L. Tanner, J.C. Thorpe, W.R. crops livestock farming systems milk production A major constraint on smallholder dairy farms in Kenya is inadequate feed supply resulting in low productivity. In Kiambu District of the Central Highlands, principal feed resources are cultivated Napier grass, roadside grass and fodder from maize, including stover and high quality thinnings cut during the growing period. An average farmer in Kiambu owns 0.8 ha of which 0.19 and 0.17 ha are dedicated to Napier and maize cultivation, respectively, and 2.2 cows producing 5.8 kg milk/day (Staal et al. 1998). Meeting the feed requirements of the dairy animals, while maintaining food production is already a challenge. There are indications that the maize crop will become increasingly important as a source of fodder (Staal et al. 1998). Methu (1998) showed that by planting 4 rather 2 maize seeds per hole, 1.9 t DM/ha of thinnings, with high energy and N content could be harvested without affecting significantly the yields of stover of grain. The present study explored further the potential of increasing production of good quality thinnings without jeopardising grain yield in a series of on-farm trials. Mean of dry matter production for fodder and grain (t/ha) showing main effect means for each farm is shown in a tabular form. 2000 2014-10-31T06:22:12Z 2014-10-31T06:22:12Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51189 en Limited Access British Society of Animal Science |
| spellingShingle | crops livestock farming systems milk production Lukuyu, Ben A. Romney, Dannie L. Tanner, J.C. Thorpe, W.R. The maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the Kenyan highlands |
| title | The maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the Kenyan highlands |
| title_full | The maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the Kenyan highlands |
| title_fullStr | The maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the Kenyan highlands |
| title_full_unstemmed | The maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the Kenyan highlands |
| title_short | The maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the Kenyan highlands |
| title_sort | maize crop as a source of food for livestock on smallholder dairy farms in the kenyan highlands |
| topic | crops livestock farming systems milk production |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/51189 |
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