Cactus based feeding strategies for enhancing small ruminant productivity International Cactus Pear Workshop Development of a cactus pear agroindustry for the subsahara Africa Region Bloemfontein, South Africa 2728 January 21 Hichem Ben Salem ICARDA Amman Jordan H.Bensalem@cgiar.org Harinder P.S. Makkar FAO Rome Italy Harinder.Makkar@fao.org Outline 1. Outlook 2. Main challenges and Concerns 3. Some characteristics of cactus.. Economic value of cactus 6. Concluding remarks Livestock, food security and livelihood Consumption of livestock products Livestock products provide: 13% of dietary energy and 28% dietary proteins worldwide World demand for livestock food products since 199: Milk + 3% Meat + 6% Eggs + 8% Livestock contribute to the livelihoods of over one billion people as a source of income, food, draught power, hides, fibre, manure, biogas Driven by: + 7% by 2 In some African countries, contribution of livestock to agricultural GDP can be as high as 8% Increasing population Urbanization Increasing economies Future feed demand Challenge to meet the feed demand when faced with: In 212213: 79 million tonnes of cereals (1/3 cereal production) By 2: an additional 2 million tonnes Monogastric sector In 213: Consumed 1 million tonnes of feed protein In 23: Additional 2 million tonnes of feed protein In 2: Additional 11 million tonnes of feed protein (% from cereals and rest 6% from other protein sources) Foodfeedfuel competition Decrease in arable land for crop production Increase in population Water shortage Limited supply of phosphorus Frequent climate extremes Animal and Human health risks Economic instability In 213: 11 million tonnes of course grains used for bioethanol 1
Dryland concerns and challenges: grave Opportunity Drylands cover more than % of the world s land area Home to 2. billion people 1/3 of global population Of these, 1/3 depend on dryland agricultural for food security & livelihoods Widespread: poverty, food insecurity, frequent drought & land degradation and desertification (CC will only increase these problems) Characterized by water scarcity, the dry areas have < 8% of the world s renewable water resources Poverty is disproportionally concentrated in dry areas A tremendous resource Africa has vast livestock resources (27m cattle, 2m sheep, 277m goats, 32m pigs, m camels and 1.7b chickens) and could be a major player in the global livestock trade. Engine for development Means to overcome malnutrition Options to improve livestock productivity Produce more with less inputs (mainly water) Costeffective and simple approaches could improve livestock performances in dry areas Balanced feeding to reduce production gap Use of drought tolerant & high waterefficient feed resources (e.g. cactus, nontoxic Jatropha and Moringa) Lesser known, adapted to harsh conditions, alternative feed resource (Bioactive compounds: decrease CH, pressure on rangelands,..) Integration Key to Profitability & Sustainability! Costeffective feeding A challenge in the dry areas Diet composition for sheep in a semi arid region in Chopped cactus (Sidi Bouzid) Olives leaves 1. Stubbles 9. 8. 7. 6... 3. 2. 1.. Winter Spring Summer automne Range vegetation Alfalfa pellets Oat hay wasted bread Comercial concentrate Barley Cactus is used yearround High proportion of concentrate feeds Low contribution of range biomass Unbalanced diets for main nutrients High cost of feeding Cherif & Ben Salem (21) Cactus A promising species Methodology: Water Footprint Assessment Manual (Hoekstra et al., 211) Cactus has low Water Footprint (Liter of water to produce 1 kg) 3 3 2 2 1 1 grey blue green Ibidhi & Ben Salem (21) 2
Nutrient contents of cactus cladodes & fruits growing in Cactus cladodes DM Ash CP NDF ADL Ca P K 1 1% DM 1 3% DM 3 7% DM 2 % DM 1 3% DM 3 8% DM.1.3% DM 3 8% DM DM (%) OM (% DM) CP (% DM) O. amyclae (fruit) OM digestibility (%) CP digestibility (%) ME (MJ / kg DM) 19 9 68 12 Yousfi and Ben Salem (213) Ingredients (%) Cactus fruits Olive cake Quicklime Urea Salt 3 37 1 1 Chemical composition (% DM) DM (%) 86 OM 6 CP 22 NDF 32 Ca 1 P 9 ME (MJ/kg DM) 1 Ben Salem (unpublished) Options to use of Cactus Wasted fruits in feed blocks to replace barley Lambs Hay + barley 1 Hay + feed block (cactus fruits) 3 Fruits & cladodes in a dried or ensiled mix Ingredients % Cactus fruit (juice) Cactus cladodes (dried & ground) 6 2 Sugar beet pulp Salt 1 Urea 1 MVS 1 Chermiti & Ferchichi (2) Araba et al. (213) Fruits & cladodes in a dried or ensiled mix Diet composition Lambs performed better with dried mix Ingredients Cont. Mix dry Mix dry + B % + B Dry Mix + B Control Mix dry Commercial feed % BW (kg) + B Dry Mix Barley 2 g 2 g Araba et al. (213) Days Araba et al. (213) 3
Total replacement of barley with cactus as supplement with straw had no effect on the growth of kids Complementary role of Atriplex and Cactus Atriplex Atriplex + cactus Hay intake (g/kg W.7 ) OM digestibility (g/kg) Cactus Barley 39.1 8.6 6 628 S.E..9 Drinking water (l/d).3 a.9 b 3 b 21 a N balance (g/d) 3. 3.9.7 37.2.8 7.3 Abidi et al. (21) Ben Salem et al. (21) Complementary role of shrub species Weaned lambs fed on straw Energy Barley Barley Cactus Cactus Nitrogen Soyabean Atriplex Soybean Atriplex Growth (g/d) 18 a 9 c 119 a 81 b Ben Salem et al. (2) Meat quality of kids Diet 1: Oat hay (6 g) + Soybean meal (2 g) + Cactus Diet 2: Oat hay (6 g) + Concentrate (6 g) No effect on PUFA, MUFA & SFA CLA increased in the meat of cactuskids Meat quality of lambs Zouaghi et al. (2) Diet 1: (cactusolive cakewheat bran) + Soybean meal (2 g) + Cactus Diet 2: Oat hay + Concentrate No effect on PUFA & MUFA decreased SFA Vasta et al. (28) Cactus vs Barley on reproductive traits in ewes Barbarine ewes: Late gestationearly suckling Diet 1: Oat hay + barley + Soybean meal Diet 2: Oat hay + cactus + Soybean meal 3 3 2 2 Impact of Cactus on farmers income ( ) Cactus ( + ) Cactus No effect on: Colostrum production Colostrum immunoglobulin G ( vs 19 g/liter) Milk yieldat 3 days(13 vs 11 g/day) Live weightof lambsat 3 daysof age Ovarianactivity at 3 days fromlambing Rekik et al. (21) 1 1 Gross margin/household (TND/year) Net benefit/sheep increased with cactus incorporated in diet (26 sheep per household) Daly & King (21)
Alternative land uses in dry areas (SidiBouzid/) TND/ha 213 Non intervention : Rangelands Alternative land uses Farmers (Net income) Cactus 122 Cactus in alley + Pasture 69 Cactus in alley + Barley 1913 Non intervention : Rainfed barley Alternative land uses Farmers (Net income) Cactus 977 Cactus in alley cropping 69 with barley Cactus in alley enhances the value of rangelands Cactus in alleyis more profitable than cropping only barley In Ethiopia, Cactus could optimally substitute grass hayup to 6% in the diet of sheep Water intake substantially lower with cactus diets 3 3 2 2 1 1 11 33 2 28 2 6 8 Substitution level Daly & King (21) Ethiopia Tegegne et al. (27) Cactus and wheat bran to supplement treated (urea)/nontreated straw for sheep Diets DMI (g/day) ADG (g/day) (S) 21e 22.d S + Cactus (C) 83c 27.d S+ C + Wheat Bran 71b +1.b Ureatreated (UTS) 6d +1.c UTS + Cactus (C) 83a +38.b UTS + C + Wheat Bran 87a +7.a source of fiber Cactus source of energy source of nitrogen Concluding remarks Inadequate yearround supply of feed resources Cactus holds promise to improve livestock production in the areas including North and sub Saharan Africa Use of cactus could reduce the amount of concentrate feeds, decrease feeding cost Cactus use decreases water consumption by animals It grows in arid areas where other crops can not grow It is rich in energy and has low fiber and CP concentrations The promotion of cactus would boost the productivity, ensure sustainability of livestockbased production systems in the dry areas and enhance farmers income Ethiopia Tegegne et al. (2) Concluding remarks Thank you! www.feedipedia.org FAOAnimalFeedingL Gateway