CECAV-Veterinary and Animal Research Centre, Universidade de-Trás-Os-Montes E, Alto Douro, 5000-801, Vila Real, Portugal.
Department of Zootechnics, Universidade de-Trás-Os-Montes E Alto Douro, UTAD, 5000-801, Vila Real, Portugal.
Trop Anim Health Prod. 2023 Oct 25;55(6):377. doi: 10.1007/s11250-023-03781-3.
Small ruminants are of great importance to the livelihoods of many people in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since they act as a source of meat, income, hides and skins and for cultural identity. Despite their great importance, especially to rural smallholder farmers, their production in Africa is hindered by poor nutrition. The first stage of establishing development strategies to increase feed quality and quantity is to conduct a comprehensive inventory of the feed resources that are currently available, especially in SSA. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the availability and nature of the common feed resources that are used in the feeding of small ruminants in Uganda. This study involved a comprehensive review of various scientific, technical and economic literature that has been published up to date. Our results show that the available feed resources in Uganda can be grouped mainly into:- crop wastes and residues, agro-industrial by-products, conserved feeds, natural pastures and browse. The main feed resources for small ruminants in Uganda have been identified as natural pastures, which are generally characterised by a low nutritive value. However, browses are seen to have a high crude protein content and could be used as a supplement to grass forages and crop residues. It has been noted that farmers lack knowledge related to feed processing and management, in addition to a lack of policy governing feed quality. Therefore, there is a need to train farmers on how to process and utilise crop residues, in addition to proper feed management practices like pasture cultivation and conservation. It is also necessary to introduce widely new pasture species with better nutritional values that are suitable for the local production systems.
小型反刍动物对撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）的许多人的生计至关重要，因为它们是肉类、收入、皮革和毛皮的来源，也是文化认同的来源。尽管它们非常重要，尤其是对农村小农户来说，但它们在非洲的生产受到营养不良的阻碍。为了提高饲料质量和数量制定发展战略的第一步是对目前可用的饲料资源进行全面盘点，特别是在 SSA。因此，本研究旨在评估在乌干达用于饲养小反刍动物的常见饲料资源的可用性和性质。本研究涉及对截至目前已发表的各种科学、技术和经济文献进行全面审查。我们的研究结果表明，乌干达可用的饲料资源主要可分为以下几类：农作物废物和残渣、农业副产品、青贮饲料、天然牧场和灌木。乌干达小反刍动物的主要饲料资源已被确定为天然牧场，其营养价值通常较低。然而，灌木被认为具有较高的粗蛋白含量，可以作为草饲料和农作物残渣的补充。值得注意的是，农民缺乏与饲料加工和管理相关的知识，以及缺乏饲料质量的政策。因此，有必要培训农民如何处理和利用农作物残渣，以及进行适当的饲料管理实践，如牧场培育和保护。还需要广泛引入营养价值更高、适合当地生产系统的新牧草品种。
