The development and application of modern
technology for upgrading crop residues has stimulated great interest in
developing countries. Researchers are working on the development of crop
residues particularly vegetable discarded leaves in agriculture fields as feed,
with emphasis on improving their intake and digestibility in ruminants. Despite
much research at universities and research stations, farmer uptake and
utilization of the residues is still minimal. Reasons for this are manifold but
include difficulties of transporting and storing crop residues, insufficient
trials at farmer level, inappropriate technology, and absence of agriculture
extension services. Literature showed that crop residues possess good nutritive
values of crude protein (CP), metabolizable energy (ME), total digestible
nutrients (TDN) and mineral contents. Results of various studies demonstrated
that cereal straws and vegetable leaves from field crops and non-conventional
feed resources showed a significant influence on the growth performance
parameters of ruminants. The literature further revealed that vegetable leaves
could be stored in the form of silage and hay and they have the potential to be
used as alternative forage in the ruminant ration. This review summarizes the
data of Turkey and Pakistan related to animal feed resources and availability
of forage, problems associated with utilization of crop residues and
recommendations about the offering of agriculture field crop residues and
wastes to animals as alternatives to conventional feedstuffs.
Primary Language | English |
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Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | November 27, 2019 |
Published in Issue | Year 2019 Volume: 3 Issue: 2 |