1. Frédéric Baudron (CIMMYT), Asheber Tegegn (EIAR)
SIMLESA Phase-2 planning meeting, 23-25 September 2014
Livestock in CA-based Systems of Ethiopia:
Threat or Opportunity?

2. Is a technology that excludes livestock
likely to be adopted in Ethiopia?
● Highest density of livestock in Africa
 53.4 million cattle and 48.3 million sheep & goats in
‘sedendary areas’ (CSA, 2011)
● Importance of animal products
 659,000 t of meat, 4.1 million t of milk (FAOSTAT, 2012)
● Importance of non-productive functions
 Cycling of nutrients through manure
 Provision of traction
 Multiplication of inflation-proof saving assets
 Insurance in times of hardship
 Display of status
● Producing fodder is often an objective of maize
cropping
 Thinning, weeds, green maize, dry stover, etc

3. Challenges of (low-input) CA-based
technologies
● Weeds
 Should we depend totally on herbicides when our
target is resource-constrained smallholders?
● N management
 N immobilization (retention of residues with a
wide C:N ratio)
 N leaching (increased drainage)
 Reduced SOM mineralization (reduced tillage)
● Limited biomass for mulching and lack of
incentive to produce biomass with no
direct economic value

4. Herbivores and weed control
(from Hatfield et al., 2007)
Herbivory retards succession in fertile
ecosystems (Augustine and McNaughton 1998)
Herbivory
Fire
Tillage
Agroecosystems are maintained in an
early succession stage through
‘disturbances’ (Martin & Sauerborn, 2013)
More pernennial weeds
CA: minimum disturbance regime…

5. (from Tittonell et al., 2010)
Herbivores and mineral N

6. Enhancing soil fertility build-up by
grazing pasture phases
(from Franzluebbers and Stuedemann, 2009)

7. Enhancing soil fertility build-up by
grazing pasture phases

8. Enhancing soil fertility build-up by
grazing pasture phases

9. Enhancing soil fertility build-up by
grazing pasture phases

10. Positive effect of herbivory on plant
productivity most common in productive
ecosystems (e.g. natural grasslands)
Bristish Isles (Bardgett et al., 1998)Serengeti (McNaughton et al., 1997)
Yellowstone (Frank and Groffman, 1998)
Grazing area in Southern
Ethiopia (‘grazing lawn’)

11. (from Bardgett et al., 1998)
Forage: species that respond positively
to grazing (by definition)

12. Integrating forage in existing cropping
systems
Intercropping / Relay cropping Perennial structures

13. Bofa, early May
J F J J A S O N DM A M
Rf(mm)
Early Sowing
Flw
GF PM
Using the Belg season for pasture in the
South
(from Hassen, 2014)
Means for the past ~30 years
Melkassa: 164 mm
Adami Tullu: 195 mm
Shalla: 297 mm
H2O
Different functional
groups:
• Grass
• Legumes
• Brassicacea
• Compositae
• etc
Seed = the cheapest
herbicide
Often grazed

14. Including perennial forages for greater
sustainability
(Cox et al., 2006)
● Permanent soil cover
 Erosion control
● Long photosynthetic period
 High light use efficiency,
● Well-developed and deep root system
that
 Carbon storage
 Water and nutrients capture efficiency
Different benefits to CA

15. Sharing biomass between livestock and
soil: how much surface mulch is required?
(from Giller et al., 2009)
Potential negative effects of mulching:
• N immobilization
• Water-logging
• Rainwater interception and evaporation
• Water loss through capilarity
(from Baudron et al., 2014)
Kakamega, long rains
Kakamega, short rains
Melkassa

16. Sharing biomass between livestock and
soil: feed formulation
CHARACTERISTICS REQUIREMENTS (MJ/d)
Liveweight (kg) 300
Maintenance and change in body
condition
35.7
Pregnancy stage (month) 5 Pregnancy 3.1
Lactation (L) 10 Lactation 57.7
Protein (%) 3.5 TOTAL 96.4
Fat (%) 4.5
Lactation phase (early: 3; mid: 2; late: 1; dry: 0) 3 Estimated intake (% liveweight DM/d) 3.0
Expected change in body condition (-1; 0; +1) 0
Ingredients
Crop residue dry Crop residues green Grass forage Legume forage Trees & Shrubs Concentrates
Beanresidues
Cowpeahay
Groundnuthaulm
Maizestover
Oatresidues
Sorghumresidues
Soybeanresidues
Ricestraw
Teffstraw
Wheatstraw
Cassavaleaves
Cowpeafodder
Ensete
Maizegreen
Oatforage
Sweetpotatoe
vines
Sugarcanetops
Buffelgrass
Gambagrass
Napier
Rhodes
Butterflypea
Desmodium
Lablab
Macroptilium
Stylosanthes
Vetch
Calliandrayoung
Calliandramature
Faidherbialeaves
Gliricidia
Leucaenayoung
Leucaenamature
Pigeonpea
Sesbaniayoung
Sesbaniamature
Cottonseedcake
Groundnutcake
Sunflowercake
Poultrylitter
Maizegrain
TOTAL Min Max
DM % 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 90.0 90.0 60.0 90.0 60.0 60.0 90.0 60.0 70.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 60.0 70.0 60.0 60.0 70.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 90.0 50.0 100.0
ME MJ/kg 7.5 8.8 10.5 8.4 9.6 8.4 9.6 8.4 8.4 8.4 10.0 9.2 8.4 9.2 10.5 12.1 12.6 8.4 8.4 8.8 8.4 7.9 8.4 9.2 7.5 9.2 8.8 9.2 8.8 9.6 8.4 7.9 9.6 9.2 9.2 10.5 2.5 3.0 2.2 1.9 2.8 6.6 10.7 11.8
CP % 6.8 14.5 16.3 4.2 7.7 4.7 8.5 2.2 4.1 4.4 19.9 28.9 13.6 5.2 8.3 15.9 10.2 9.9 6.2 6.7 7.1 15.2 15.3 17.1 14.9 7.7 22.4 24.2 14.6 19.9 21.6 21.6 23.6 25.7 18.8 21.0 40.5 49.0 25.9 17.8 12.4 18.9 16.0 18.0
NDF % 64.2 49.2 38.4 75.4 58.3 73.6 63.0 74.4 76.9 74.4 32.1 27.2 63.6 53.5 54.6 43.1 72.2 67.1 70.7 76.1 70.2 40.0 51.4 39.4 58.4 64.5 39.4 48.7 38.1 36.5 52.9 35.0 38.6 54.0 38.1 31.3 38.4 16.4 35.5 55.9 55.1 56.0 30.0 80.0
Min 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Max 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Composition
(%) 0.0 0.0 0.0 67.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 32.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Price(KSH/kg) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 30.0 40.0 25.0 15.0 30.0 45.0 5.0 30.0 30.0 45.0 50.0 45.0 50.0 45.0 32.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 60.0 55.0 80.0 85.0 70.0 90.0 83.0 85.0 50.0 50.0 50.0 20.0 30.0 0.0
Quantity (kg/d) 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 16.2
RATION
DM kg 14.6
Maximum intake of this ration (kg
DM/d) 7.0
ME MJ 96.4
CP kg 2.8
Water requirements
(L/d) 118.4
NDF kg 8.2
Designed by Oriama Okitoi (KARI-Kakamega) & Frédéric Baudron (CIMMYT-Addis Ababa)
…etc…
Set of available ingredients characterized by their ME, CP, NDP and $
Characteristics
of the cow
(weight, pregnacy
stage, etc)
+
production
objective
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
20 70
Maximumintake(kgDM)
Fiber content (% NDF)
100
200
300
400
500
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 5 10
ME(MJ/d)
Month pregnancy

17. One proposition of experiment
CONTROL
0% 33% 67% 100%
Trampling
(muzzled
animals)
Cut-and-carry,
application of
manure and refusals
In situ grazing
No animals
Summer: CA Maize relayed with a forage
Winter: 8 different treatments
Measurement: Total productivity, SOM, SON, weed abundance and diversity, pest
incidence, BD, etc

18. THANK YOU