Disease management factors influencing yield and quality of sorghum and groundnut crop residues

Crop residues from groundnut and sorghum constitute important fodder resources for dairy production and fodder trading on the Deccan Plateau in India. This paper addresses the effect of important diseases of groundnut and sorghum on pod and grain yield and crop residue yield and quality. In four genotypes of groundnut, late leaf spot (Phaeoisasariopsis personata) and rust (Puccinia arachidis) are the two major foliar diseases that together could reduce pod and haulm yield by 70% and in vitro digestibility of haulms by 22%. Two genotypes (ICGV 9202 and 92093) were highly resistant to these foliar diseases maintaining high pod and haulm yield as well as high in vitro digestibility of haulms (>62.3%) even under highest disease pressure. Important diseases in sorghum investigated were a viral disease caused by maize stripe virus (MStV) and anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum graminicola. MStV reduced grain yield by 30%, stover yield by 42% and digestible stover yield by 45%. Effects of MStV were highly genotype-dependent and grain and stover were affected in different ways in different varieties. The choice of appropriate genotype for a given farming situation will depend on trade-off scenarios for benefits from grain and stover. Similarly, anthracnose could reduce grain yield by 47% and stover yield by 23% but effects on stover quality were variable. As observed for MStV, effects of anthracnose were highly genotype-dependent and genotypes were identified that maintained high grain and stover yield under high disease pressure

Improving Postrainy Sorghum Varieties to Meet the Growing Grain and Fodder Demand in India

The grain and stover residues of postrainy sorghum play an almost equally important role in the sorghum value chain, and the premium price of stover is linked to stover qualit

FEAST- A User-friendly Tool for Feed Assessment to Support Dairy Intensification

In smallholder dairying, feed is the single most limiting constraint to production intensification. The availability of various feed resources in a given location can be roughly estimated rapidly using a tool called FEAST (Feed Assessment Tool) which was developed, field tested and extensively used by ILRI scientists. The tool comprises a farmer-centered diagnosis exercise, use of questionnaires and their analysis. The whole exercise can be completed within 2-3 days and leads to a set of feed options for subsequent prioritization in consultation with farmers. The tool, apart from providing evidence on the feed situation, makes available information on the pre-requisites for feed investment such as potential of existing breeds, demand for milk and availability of marketing mechanisms in the area. The paper discusses use of the tool and outputs of the exercise recently carried out in Bijapur, Karnataka

Forage yield and quality in pigeonpea germplasm lines

The forage yield and quality traits and their heritability estimates over 2003 and 2004 in India were observed. Two hundred pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) germplasm lines were planted at ICRISAT, Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India during kharif (rainy) season of 2003 and 2004, with 157 lines grown in both years. The lines were evaluated in a randomized block design with three replications, and harvested at 50% flowering by cutting the plants about 2 feet aboveground. The tested pigeonpea lines showed large genetic variability for forage dry matter yield, nitrogen content, in vitro organic matter digestibility and condensed tannins content in 2003 and 2004. The five best lines for forage yield in rainy season 2003 (8.8-10.5 tonnes/ha) and 2004 (7.0 to 7.8 tonnes/ha) with forage nitrogen content, in vitro organic matter digestibility and condensed tannins content are presented. ICP 2098 was the most promising for forage yield with relatively superior quality in both years. Forage dry matter yield and forage quality traits were unrelated in the 2003 rainy season. However, in the 2004 rainy season, forage yield was positively associated with forage nitrogen content (r = 0.32) and negatively with condensed tannins content (r=-0.18). Estimates of broad sense heritability (h2) for forage yield, nitrogen, condensed tannins and in vitro digestibility were 0.27, 0.51, 0.70 and 0.34, respectively. Mean nitrogen content in the pigeonpea forage was 3.4 and 3.6% in 2003 and 2004, respectively, suggesting that pigeonpea forage can serve as an effective supplement to nitrogen deficient feedstuffs

Stover Quality Traits for Improvement of Dual-Purpose Sorghum

Twenty four sorghum stovers were investigated with sheep for organic matter digestibility (OMD) and intake (OMI), and for digestible organic matter intake (DOMI) and for relations between laboratory fodder quality traits and these in vivo measurements. Statistically highly significant and nutritionally important differences were found between the stover with OMD differing by 15 percentage units and OMI and DOMI varying 1.6 and 2 times, respectively. For each of the in vivo measurements, chemical (NDF, ADF, ADL) and in vitro (in vitro digestibility, metabolisable energy content) traits were identified which accounted for at least 50% of the variation in the respective traits. Using multiple regression procedures and stringent cross-validation (“blind-predictions”) procedures OMD, OMI and DOMI could be predicted with R2 for comparing observed and predicted values of 0.36, 0.65 and 0.75, respectively. The reported research showed selection for dual purpose sorghum cultivars is promising, and identified and validated simple laboratory traits that can be used for such phenotypin

NIR spectroscopy: the gateway to physiology of nutritional traits of the crop

In spite of recent positive trends in commitments and investments in increasing the nutrition-sensitivity of agriculture, to date, there is still limited evidence that agricultural interventions are benefiting nutrition(macro & micro), the so-called hidden hunger

Price-quality relationships for the main livestock feed types in the Ethiopian feed market

This study assessed the price-quality relationships for the major feed products in Ethiopia with a view to informing policy makers on possible avenues to develop the livestock feed sector in the country. A survey of livestock feed markets was conducted from April to May 2019 in five regions (Amhara, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), Oromia, Tigray and Addis Ababa). A total of 1700 feed samples with their respective price information were collected from 202 marketplaces. The collected samples were analyzed for their crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) and metabolisable energy (ME) content. Results showed considerable variability in quality within the same feed type. Pearson correlation and regression analyses showed that price-quality relationships for the feed samples were either very weak or non-existent. Wheat bran showed a weak price to quality correlation for CP (r= 0.200 at P<0.01), ME (r= 0.202 at P<0.01) and IVOMD (r= 0.221 at P<0.01). Among the roughages, grass hay showed slight positive price to ME correlation (r= 0.382 at P<0.001) and a slight negative relationship with ADF (r=-0.336 at p<0.005). The results of this study indicated that quality attributes have no, or a limited role in setting market prices for most feed types in the Ethiopian feed market. The fact that both good and poor-quality feeds are sold under the same label and market value affects both traders and livestock producers. Therefore, it is important to build national feed analytical capabilities to allow quality of feeds to be checked against national feed standards, particularly for concentrate feeds

CGIAR Operations under the Plant Treaty Framework

The history of CGIAR and the development and implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (“Plant Treaty”) are closely intertwined. In accordance with the agreements that 11 CGIAR centers signed with the Plant Treaty’s Governing Body under Article 15 of the treaty, >730,000 accessions of crop, tree, and forage germplasm conserved in CGIAR genebanks are made available under the terms and conditions of the multilateral system of access and benefit sharing, and the CGIAR centers have transferred almost 4 million samples of plant genetic resources under the system. Many activities of CGIAR centers and their genebanks (e.g., crop enhancement, improved agronomic methods, seed system strengthening, and capacity building) are influenced by, and promote, the Plant Treaty’s objectives. The continued existence and optimal functioning of the Plant Treaty’s multilateral system of access and benefit sharing is critically important to CGIAR in the pursuit of its mission. However, the multilateral system has encountered some challenges since the Plant Treaty came into force. The successful conclusion of the ongoing process for enhancing the functioning of the multilateral system could increase monetary benefit sharing and incentives for exchanging more germplasm. In the meantime, increased efforts are necessary to promote nonmonetary benefit sharing through partnerships, technology transfer, information exchange, and capacity building. These efforts should be integrated into countries’ and organizations’ work to implement the Plant Treaty’s provisions on conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, and farmers’ rights