ABSTRACT. We investigated vegetation dynamics in relation to livestock grazing as perceived by pastoral farmers in different regions of Botswana. A structured questionnaire was used to collect farmers' understanding of vegetation changes and causes within three different grazing lands. The pastoral farmers' description of dominant vegetation differed significantly both at the local and district level, which suggests that rangelands consist of patches dominated by different grasses and woody vegetation. Most pastoralists indicated that grass composition has undergone changes, and unpalatable grasses such as Aristida congesta and Megaloprotachne albescens are increasing. The different factors perceived by pastoral farmers to cause changes in vegetation composition included rainfall, overgrazing, and fire. Bush encroachment is considered to be more common in communal grazing land than in ranches. According to pastoral farmers, the ranching system is less degrading to the environment and more sustainable for livestock production than is communal grazing.
A field experiment was conducted at Botswana College of Agriculture garden to investigate the effects intercropping maize and cowpeas on the performance of maize and co wpeas. The treat ments were sole maize crop, sole cowpea crop, intercrop 1 (spacing of 40 cm between of maize and cowpea) and intercrop 2 (spacing of 30 cm between maize and cowpea served as treatments. The experiment was monitored fro m November to March. The results show that only maize dry matter was significantly reduced by intercropping. Intercropping reduced the number cowpea flowers per p lant but had no significant effect in the number of seeds per pod and weight of seeds. Cowpea dry matter weight was significantly reduced by intercropping. Planting pattern significantly affected the number of cowpea flowers, nu mber o f pods and dry matter weight. Appropriate spacing/ planting pattern should be considered when intercropping cereal and legume.
and Natural Resources from November to December 2016. Mature Vachellia rehmanniana seeds were collected from healthy erect trees at Butale Village, Botswana to investigate the effect of different pre-sowing treatment methods on seed germination. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with five treatments (control, mechanical scarification, boiling water, hot water and concentrated sulphuric acid (98.8%)). Boiling water had three different levels of time exposure (1, 3 and 5 min) whereas, concentrated sulphuric acid had four different levels of time exposure (15, 30, 45 and 60 min). The results revealed that seed germination percentage, germination mean time and germination index were significantly (P < 0.01) affected by pre-treatment methods. The highest significant cumulative germination percentages were recorded in seeds subjected to boiling water for 3 and 5 min, sulphuric acid for 45 and 60 min, and mechanical scarification. Based on the findings mechanical scarification and boiling water techniques are recommended for use in nurseries and by farmers because sulphuric acid is expensive and need to be handled by trained individuals. It is recommended that future research should target increasing the exposure time over five and 60 minutes for boiling water and sulphuric acid treatments, respectively for this species to increase the cumulative germination percentage.
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