In the very large areas of arid highlands in West Asia, of which land over 1000 m in Balochistan is typical, as a result of rapidly increasing numbers of small ruminants and subsequent overgrazing of natural rangelands, severe shortages in animal feed are being experienced. To address this problem the And Zone Research Institute (AZRI) have been evaluating annual forage legume germplasm for adaptability to the harsh climatic conditions of highland Balochistan. Due to the marginality of the environment for sustained crop production an unconventional germplasm evaluation strategy has been adopted which emphasizes the introduction of landraces, particularly of the genus Vicia. The substantial risk of crop failure from either cold or drought, in any year, makes continuity of seed supply of selected lines a major problem. Support from ICARDA in Syria for re‐supply of seed is a major advantage to the AZRI program.
In the last three years some tangible progress has been made in selection. V. villosa ssp. dasycarpa Ace. 683 has with autumn sowing shown sufficient cold tolerance and is highly productive in wet years. V. ervilia Ace. 2542 has shown some potential for drought tolerance which could be exploited for spring sowing.
Background: Climate change mitigation and adaptation has become unavoidable globally and different land use management systems have to be managed accordingly on sustainable basis. In Jammu and Kashmir, livestock sector is emerging as important growth leverage to state economy and its share to gross state domestic product is also increasing. Census figures 2011 signify that about 73% of the population lives in rural areas and are associated with agriculture and allied sectors including livestock rearing as main occupation. Livestock Issues: It is estimated that livestock and its derived foods and other products contributed about 6.13% to the GSDP in the year 2010-11. Grasslands produce forage for domestic livestock, which in turn support human livelihoods with meat, milk, wool, and leather products. Livestock sector engages sizeable number of working force not only in rearing of animals but also in processing, transportation and sale of the animal products. However, the productivity of livestock
Policy Article
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