Brachiaria grass for climate resilient and sustainable livestock production in Kenya

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationKenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organizationen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Livestock Research Instituteen_US
cg.contributor.donorEuropean Unionen_US
cg.coverage.countryKenyaen_US
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2KEen_US
cg.coverage.regionAfricaen_US
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africaen_US
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africaen_US
cg.creator.identifierSita Ghimire: 0000-0001-8930-1384en_US
cg.edition1sten_US
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden_US
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42091-8_146-1en_US
cg.placeSwitzerlanden_US
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen_US
cg.subject.ilriAGRICULTUREen_US
cg.subject.ilriANIMAL FEEDINGen_US
cg.subject.ilriANIMAL PRODUCTIONen_US
cg.subject.ilriCLIMATE CHANGEen_US
cg.subject.ilriCROP-LIVESTOCKen_US
cg.subject.ilriFEEDSen_US
cg.subject.ilriFODDERen_US
cg.subject.ilriFORAGESen_US
dc.contributor.authorNjarui, D.M.G.en_US
dc.contributor.authorGatheru, M.en_US
dc.contributor.authorGhimire, Sita R.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-11T11:27:14Zen_US
dc.date.available2020-12-11T11:27:14Zen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/110465en_US
dc.titleBrachiaria grass for climate resilient and sustainable livestock production in Kenyaen_US
dcterms.abstractBrachiaria grass is a “climate smart” forage that produces high amount of palatable and nutritious biomass for livestock and performs well in infertile soils, sequesters carbon in soil, and provides several environmental benefits. The objective of the study was to validate the productivity of Brachiaria grass and upscale the suitable cultivars for improved livestock feed resources in Kenya. We assume integrating Brachiaria grass into mixed crop-livestock system will enhance feed availability and livestock productivity, leading to increased food and nutrition security. Farmer participatory approach was adopted to evaluate and promote four Brachiaria grass (Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk, B. brizantha cvs. Xaraes, Piata, and MG-4) in the Central Highland and Eastern Midland of Kenya. The extension/advisory approaches used to promote Brachiaria grass cultivars included field days, village knowledge centres, agricultural shows, posters, and linkages with other institutions through multi-actor platform established under the InnovAfrica project. Generally, Brachiaria grass cultivars were more productive than the control (Rhodes grass) in most harvests reaching peak of 5.1–7.7 t/ha in the fifth harvest. For Rhodes grass, DM was less than 4 t/ha in all harvest and died by sixth harvest. Similarly, based on farmers’ evaluation using phenotypic traits, the Brachiaria grass cultivars had higher score than Rhodes grass except cv. Piata. The mean score ranged from 2.75 to 3.19 for Brachiaria cultivars, while for Rhodes the mean score was 2.63. Within 2 years of intervention, over 4000 farmers in the 2 project sites and additional 1500 farmers from other parts of the country have planted the Brachiaria grass. The demand for Brachiaria grass seeds is increasing due to benefits gained, e.g., increased milk production from dairy cattle fed on the grass. Our study will quantify the associated benefits from cultivation of Brachiaria grass with respect to a set of ecological, food and nutrition security, and social-economic indicators.en_US
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_US
dcterms.audienceScientistsen_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationNjarui, D.M.G., Gatheru, M. and Ghimire, S.R. 2020. Brachiaria grass for climate resilient and sustainable livestock production in Kenya. IN: Leal Filho, W., Ogugu, N., Adelake L., Ayal D. and Silva, I. da (eds.). 2020. African handbook of climate change adaptation. Cham: Springeren_US
dcterms.extentpp. 1-22en_US
dcterms.isPartOfLeal Filho, W., Oguge, N., Ayal, D., Adeleke, L., & da Silva, I. (Eds.). (2020). African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42091-8en_US
dcterms.issued2020-06-01en_US
dcterms.languageenen_US
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0en_US
dcterms.publisherSpringeren_US
dcterms.subjectclimate-smart agricultureen_US
dcterms.subjectlivestock productionen_US
dcterms.subjectbrachiariaen_US
dcterms.subjectanimal feedingen_US
dcterms.subjectfeedsen_US
dcterms.subjectforageen_US
dcterms.subjectresilienceen_US
dcterms.typeBook Chapteren_US

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