Spatial analysis of land use by cattle herds in the sub-humid area of Senegal is conducted through the utilisation of a Geographic Information System. This tool allows us to establish relationships between spatial practices, ruminant nutrition and performances. It gives leads to proposals for the improvement of the extensive ruminant feeding system

Bastien, D

De Choudens, N

Ickowicz, A

Usengumuremyi, J C

English

University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky UKnowledge IGC Proceedings (1997-2023) XVIII IGC (1997) Manitoba & Saskatchewan Spatial Analysis of Land Use by Cattle Herds in a Village of the Sudanese Zone in Senegal. Application for Grazing System Improvement A Ickowicz CIRAD-EMVT, France J C. Usengumuremyi EISMV, Senegal D Bastien ISRA-LNERV, Senegal N De Choudens ISRA-LNERV Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc  Part of the Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, and the Weed Science Commons This document is available at https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1997/session5/16 <>Grasslands 2000</> This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in IGC Proceedings (1997-2023) by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact UKnowledge@lsv.uky.edu. Session 5 - Foraging Strategy 5-29ID NO.  1756SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF LAND USE BY CATTLE HERDS IN A VILLAGE OF THESUDANESE ZONE IN SENEGAL. APPLICATION FOR GRAZING SYSTEMIMPROVEMENTA. Ickowicz1,2, J.C. Usengumuremyi3 and D.Bastien2 and N. De Choudens21 CIRAD-EMVT, BP 5035, 34032 Montpellier Cedex 1, France2 ISRA-LNERV, BP 2057, Dakar, Sénégal3 EISMV, BP 5077, Dakar, SénégalABSTRACTSpatial analysis of land use by cattle herds in the sub-humid area of Senegalis conducted through the utilisation of a Geographic Information System.This tool allows us to establish relationships between spatial practices,ruminant nutrition and performances. It gives leads to proposals for theimprovement of the extensive ruminant feeding system.KEYWORDSCattle feeding, diet, spatial behaviour, G.I.S, ruminant performances, SenegalINTRODUCTIONExtensive ruminant feeding systems in the sub-humid area of Senegal (700-1200 mm annual rainfall from June to October) are developing in aheterogeneous environment (Guerin et al., 1986; Blanfort, 1991) whichcomprises rangelands, fallows, rainfed fields, rice fields and others, as inother parts of Africa (Bayer, 1996). The influence of seasons on the ruminantfeeding system is important (Richard et al., 1991). As farmers have to workin the fields from June to December, ruminant diets rely on scarce forageresources of rangelands and forest during this period. Then, livestock returnsto harvested fields where crop by-products are abundant. However, in ourstudy zone, mid-Casamance, Kolda region, ruminant productions of sedentarypastoral systems remain low and differences in herd productions seem tobear, at least in part, some relation to herd spatial behaviour and management.In order to verify this hypothesis which may have important consequences interms of herd management, land management and improvement, we decidedto study spatial management and behaviour, feeding behaviour and productionperformances of  cattle herds of a representative village during three yearsusing a Geographic Information System as suggested by Meuret and Thinon(1993). This paper presents the first results of this study.MATERIALS AND METHODSLand composition around the village was designed from 1/12.000 aerialphotographs and ground observations. Ten land types were defined : rainfedfields (Fi), house fields (HFi), young fallows (Fa), rice fields (Ri), ponds(Po), high forest (H= above 7m high), medium forest (M= 7 to 2m high), lowforest (L= below 2m high) and herbaceous rangelands in forest (He) or in thepalm zone (Hp). Each forest type was furthermore divided in four classesaccording to tree cover ( class 1 for cover less than 20%; class 2 from 20 to40%; class 3 from 40 to 70%; class 4 above 70%). In total, 19 different landtypes were defined. Spatial study of cattle herd management and feedingbehaviour was carried out on three different herds (Diao, Mamadou,Mamoudou) which comprised respectively 32, 108 and 134 heads of N’Damacattle. Over a period of three years, each herd was followed with a compassand a topometric thread for one whole day at two weeks intervals. Every fiveminutes, the position of the herds was thus noted. A recent version of GlobalPositioning System Navigator was also used during three  courses to comparemethods. At the same time, feeding behaviour was estimated through theinstant percentage of grazing cattle. Fodder species that cattle fed on wereregistered using a hand plucking method every fifteen minutes. Theseobservations were averaged throughout the day to calculate the averagepercentage of grazing cattle (PGC) and the average percentage of graminae,herbaceous legumes, forbs, crop residues and ligneous forage fed on  (GRAM,LEG, FOR, CPR, LIG). This information was transferred onto the databaseof ATLAS-GISR sofware together with the land-type map. Herd courses wereplotted on maps either in line form (distances walked) or in point form (timespent) to compare results. With the same rhythm, herd diet quality (OrganicMatter Digestibility:OMD and Digestible Nitrogen Matter content: DNM)was estimated from chemical analysis of faeces (Guerinet al., 1989). Averagemilk production of each herd was also calculated (MLK) but only from cowsthat calved during the rainy season (July to September). We  added averagedaily milk yield with calves average daily weight gain converted into milkequivalent (Agyemang et al., 1993 :1 kg DWG = 9 liters of milk). Statisticalanalysis was carried out on 80 herd courses corresponding to three differentherds, 19 land-type variables and 9 zootechnical variables.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONLand use. Comparisons of the different methods for herd course registrationshow that there is no significant difference between compass/thread versusGPS methods in terms of land use estimates. When we compare line versuspoint course registration methods on 28 courses, we find that results werehighly correlated (r = 0,62 to 0,97) except for the two land types (H2;H4)which correspond to zones where cattle walk a lot along tracks. The GPSmethod may then be recommended as easier to apply. Distance and timemeasurements for land use are both valuable but time seems preferable. Forthis first set of data, we used distance measurements. When plotted on a map,courses show that the three herds use quite different zones around the villageduring the year. Whereas all three herds use rainfed fields and rice fieldsduring the dry season, the small herd (Diao) can stay in the near forest duringthe rainy season while the two big herds have to use an adjoining forest tofind enough water and forage.  Over the year, we calculated a frequentationindex dividing the average percentage of a land type in herd courses by theland type representation on ground. Figure 1 shows that some land types arequite well exploited (Ri;M4;M3;Hp;H4) whereas others are deserted (L1;L4;He;H1;M1). Analysis of variances confirm that for land types (L1; H1; H3;H4; M1; M4; Po) herders’ practices are significantly different on a yearlybasis (p<0,05) whereas it is not for others. Analysis on seasonal effect on amonthly basis shows that for almost all land types (except L2; H1; H4; M1;Po), seasonal effect is significant (p<0,05). This is due to cultivating constraintswhich force herders to alternate forest and field use. At this stage, we canalready state that some land types are useless for cattle feeding (L4, M1) andmight be improved by soil work and forage species planting.Zootechnical variables. All variables are significantly affected by the seasonaleffect except DNM content of diets and percentage of grazing cattle (PGC)which might be interpreted as a result of low variations and a small numberof observations per month. Herd effect is significant only for MLK(respectively 1145, 746 and 1358 ml/cow/day for Diao, Mama and Mamo)and PGC (respectively 72.8; 66.9 and 66.6 %), whereas it is not for botanicalcomposition and quality of diets except for ligneous forage ingestion(respectively 8.4; 6.9 and 12.5 %).Relationship between land use, nutrition and performances.  In order toanalyse whether different herders’ practices bear any relation to animalnutrition and production, we conducted a principal component analysis (PCA)on the first 80 different herd courses registered during our study. To minimizeseasonal effect, we carried out PCA after division of our data in four sets,namely rainy season in forest (RSF), beginning of dry season in forest (DSF),dry season on crop residues (DSR), end of dry season (EDS). This analysisshows that (Table 1) :- during RSF season, CPR are related to Fi and Ri, and other forage type toforest land type frequentation. Forbes intake is related to MLK and OMD.- during EDS season, FOR is related to many land types and to MAD.MAD is related to MLK and OMD. During this period, Graminae intakeis related to Fallows and PGC.These partial results show relationships between herders’ practices, land-type use and seasons, as mentioned by Richard et al. (1991), but furthermorewith ruminant diet characteristics and productions. It suggests the role ofSession 5 - Foraging Strategy 5-30land-types to be different according to seasons (ex : Fallows related toGRA or to LIG) and gives leads to feeding system improvementtechniques such as land-type management and improvement, foragecrop implementation and ruminant supplementation. Other tools arebeing used (Balent, 1993) to confirm these statements.CONCLUSIONFirstly, results of this study prove how GIS can be used as a relevanttool with which to investigate extensive ruminant feeding systems. Itrequires information on natural resources to feed it and can be combinedwith zootechnical parameters to understand relationships betweenruminant spatial land-use and production. Moreover, throughout thisresearch programme, we are searching for other key parameters whichcould make the diagnosis easier, faster and cheaper to allow appropriateintervention on extensive ruminant feeding systems.REFERENCESAgyemang, K., D. Clifford and D.A. Little. 1993. An assessment ofthe biological and economic efficiency in conversion of milk to growthin N’Dama calves. Anim. Prod. 1993, 56:165-170.Balent, G. 1993. Cartographier des activités de pâturage sur un territoirehétérogène avec le logiciel CARPAT. In E.Landais, ed. Pratiquesd’Elevage Extensif. Identifier, modéliser, évaluer. I.N.R.A., Etudes etrecherches sur les systèmes agraires et le développement, France, pp265-282.Bayer, W. 1996. Herding for crop-livestock integration. Proceedingsof the Fifth International Rangeland Congress, July 23-28, 1995, SaltLake City, U.S.A., vol. I, pp. 43-44.Blanfort, V. 1991. Phytosociologie et production de la végétation desparcours d’une petite région agropastorale de moyenne-casamance(Sénégal). Analyse de la variabilité pour une application à l’étude dessystèmes d’alimentation des ruminants. Université Paris XI, INA-PG,CIRAD-EMVT, DEA Ecologie générale et production végétale, 183p.Guerin, H., C. Sall, D. Friot, B. Ahokpe, A. Ndoye. 1986. Ebauched’une méthodologie de diagnostic de l’alimentation des ruminantsdomestiques dans un système agropastoral : l’exemple de Thyssé-Kaymor-Sonkorong au Sénégal. In: Les Cahiers de la RechercheDéveloppement, N° spécial : Relations Agriculture-Elevage n° 2, 9-10 : 60-69.Guerin, H., D. Richard, P. Lefevre, D. Friot, N. Mbaye. 1989.Prévision de la valeur nutritive des fourrages ingérés sur parcoursnaturels par les ruminants domestiques  sahéliens et soudaniens. Actesdu XVIe Congrès International des Herbages, Nice, France, Vol 2, pp.879-880.Meuret, M., P. Thinon. 1993. La maîtrise de l’utilisation de l’espacepâturé vue à travers un Système d’Information Géographique. InE.Landais, ed. Pratiques d’Elevage Extensif. Identifier, modéliser,évaluer. I.N.R.A., Etudes et recherches sur les systèmes agraires et ledéveloppement, France, pp 217-236.Richard, D., B. Ahokpe, V. Blanfort, B. Pouye. 1991. Utilisationdes zones agricoles et pastorales par les ruminants en zone soudanienne(Moyenne Casamance, Sénégal). Actes du IVe Congrès Internationaldes Terres de Parcours, Montpellier, avril 1991, France, pp. 754-756.Figure 1Map representing land types around the village of Sare Yero Bana in the Kolda region(Senegal) and the three herd courses for the first eighteen months of the study.Figure 2Land types representation and herd annual average frequentation indexTable 1Relationship between seasonal land use by herds and nutritional and production variables.SEASONS Rainy season (RSF) Early dry season (DSF) Middle dry season (DSR) End of dry season (EDS)DATE 1 July to 15 Sept. 15 Sept. to 15 Nov. 15 Nov. to 15 March 15 March to 1 JulyNb of courses 19 27 21 15Main Land Types Forest Forest Fields All typesLand Type L1 M3 M4 H2 H4 Fa L2 Fi Ri H2 H3 H4 M4 Ri Fa L2 L3 M3 H3Land type Gram Gram Gram Forb Forb Lign Legum Crop Crop Legum Legum Legum Forb Forb Gram Forb Forb Forb Forbrelated variables res. res. Lign Lign Lign MLK PGCOther related Forb./DNM, DNM/OMDvariables DNM/Lign Legum/PGC, Gram/OMD Forb./MLK, Forb./OMD, MLK/OMD DNM/MLK, Gram/PGC

Spatial Analysis of Land Use by Cattle Herds in a Village of the Sudanese Zone in Senegal. Application for Grazing System Improvement

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Spatial Analysis of Land Use by Cattle Herds in a Village of the Sudanese Zone in Senegal. Application for Grazing System Improvement

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