Aspects of the Nutritional Compositions Natural Pastures at Mubi, Northern Guinea Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

Grazing management is the manipulation of grazing land to achieve desired results in improving range productivity and efficient use of forage resources. An assessment of natural pastures as a locally feed resource was conducted at the Livestock Teaching and Research Farm of Adamawa State University, Mubi. Twelve (12) natural pastures were identified based on morphological appearance in the grazing area. The grasses/browse plants in the grazing area during the period of study (rainy season) were identified. Samples of these were collected by cutting the young vegetative portion of the plants during the early blooming period, using a quadrant of 0.7 x 0.7m in area. The quadrant sampling was used to determine forage yields. Four quadrants were thrown on each replicate plots within a quadrant, grass samples were cut at a height of approximately 3-4 cm from the ground the number of appearance indicated the frequency of the plants in the grazing area. Chemical composition of each plant identified was analyzed for DM, CP, CF and Ash. Maximum plants biomass was noticed in the months of September and high preference indices in the rainy season, which corresponds to stages of maximum foliation of the browse species. Given the reputation of ruminants’ production in this region, range management programmers should aim at preserving plant communities that are highly diversified in botanical structures as well as ensuring the survival of tree species that are highly browsed by herbivores.