Herbaceous legumes provide several options for increasing beef cattle productivity in eastern Indonesia

Abstract

Context Increasing demand for livestock products in developing countries provides opportunities for smallholder farmers to increase and diversify their income through increased livestock production. However, livestock production in these systems is often limited by inadequate animal nutrition, and farmers need ways to increase the availability and quality of livestock feed without compromising yields of food crops or increasing the area of land planted to forages. Aim Using eastern Indonesia as a case study, we explore the potential for herbaceous legumes, integrated into existing mixed crop–livestock systems, to address specific production issues in smallholder beef systems. Methods Through a series of in-village feeding demonstrations, we tested three opportunities to increase livestock production through the use of herbaceous legumes: (i) increasing reproduction rates of cows by maintaining their liveweight (LW) and body condition score during the dry season; (ii) increasing the survival and LW gain of unweaned calves; and (iii) increasing LW gain of growing bulls. Key results Small amounts of legume (~10 g DM/kg LW) were enough to maintain LW of cows grazing poor-quality grasses and crop residues during the dry season. At higher levels of inclusion in the diet (~20 g DM/kg LW), feeding legumes increased the LW gain of growing cattle and survival of unweaned calves, providing benefits similar to a purchased concentrate, but at lower cost. Conclusions Our results demonstrate how strategic use of herbaceous legumes can increase beef production from low-input systems by maintaining LW of cows, and increasing survival of unweaned calves and LW gain of growing bulls. Implications Integration of herbaceous legumes into existing cropping systems removes many of the barriers to supplementary feeding. Improved livestock nutrition does not need to be based on purchased concentrates or increases in land used for forage production. The results are applicable to many other mixed crop–livestock systems throughout Southeast Asia.

Subsidy as An Economic Instrument for Environmental Protection: A Case of Global Fertilizer Use

“…Previous authors have reported that increasing multiple cropping in suitable areas could increase these global crop-cultivable areas by 87-395 million hectares [92,98]. Herbaceous plants, also known as herbs or vegetables, are perennial, annual, or biennial, depending on the region in which they are grown and their ability or lack thereof to survive in winter, drought, wet, or dry seasons [99]. In addition to multi-layered crops, herbaceous cropping has worldwide acceptance because it is a sustainable source of nutrients for soil fertility [100].…”

“…In addition to multi-layered crops, herbaceous cropping has worldwide acceptance because it is a sustainable source of nutrients for soil fertility [100]. It can solve soil erosion, leaching, and evaporation problems [99]. Further, herbaceous crops supply food for people and livestock in all seasons, provided that irrigation is applied where needed [49,99].…”

“…It can solve soil erosion, leaching, and evaporation problems [99]. Further, herbaceous crops supply food for people and livestock in all seasons, provided that irrigation is applied where needed [49,99]. Woody cropping refers to the intensive production of agricultural staple commodities from highly domesticated woody perennial plants.…”

Wet Season Forage Production of Leucaena leucocephala cv Tarramba Planted in a Multiple Rows Configuration on Sandy Vertisol Soil at Naibonat, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara-Indonesia

“…The dry climate with long dry season (8-9 months) in East Nusa Tenggara has significant effects on the growth and productivity of forage supply for the ruminant livestock, especially cattle in the region. The negative effects including high calf mortality of Bali Cattle in West Timor (30 to 50%) [1,2], long calving interval (2-3 year) of Sumba Ongole Cattle in Sumba Island, and low annual average live daily weight gain of cattle (0.2 to 0.3 kg/head/day) [3,4] in the whole province (Bali Cattle, Sumba Ongole Cattle as well as other local and introduced breeds) [5,6].…”

Table_1.DOCX

“…A. Improved animal nutrition: Hoste et al, 2012;Sousa et al, 2015;Améndola et al, 2016;Sordillo, 2016;Nwafor et al, 2017;Mangwe et al, 2019;Mayberry et al, 2020B. Increased animal welfare: García-Cruz et al, 2013Cuartas et al, 2014;Lerner et al, 2015;Pezo et al, 2018 C. Positive indirect effects on human health: Harvey et al, 2006;Moreno and Pulido, 2010;Rivera et al, 2013;Montoya-Flores et al, 2020Synergy Khan et al, 2008Descheemaeker et al, 2010;Peters et al, 2012;Cheruíyot et al, 2020;Wan et al, 2020;Zahoor et al, 2021…”