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Bamboo Biodiversity and Biofencing in a Livestock Fodder Venture

Bamboo Biodiversity and Biofencing in a Livestock Fodder Venture

anju paul*; francis xavier; benjamin.e.d,cbf thumburmurmuzy

kerala agricultural  university;konnakuzhy.p.o.680721, chalakudy, thrissur,kerala., cbfthumburmuzhy@kau.in

First Indian Biodiversity Congress IBC 2010, National Seminar 28th  to 30th   Dec 2010 held at Thiruvananathapuram

Bamboo; the tallest of the grass family, distributed widely in diverse climates are 1450 species under seventy genera. Being one of the fastest growing plants on earth Bamboo may be a boon to the farming fraternity. The role of Bamboo in livestock fodder venture in Kerala state may not have been scientifically reported so far .The fragmented land holding; the sloping terrains and the wide climatic zones existing in Kerala state make different types of bamboo species suitable and ideal to be clubbed with fodder and livestock enterprises. Though some varieties are scattered traditionally here and there in Kerala farm lands, a concrete effort to locate ideal  bamboo species  to be  integrated with a Livestock component was taken up in CBF Thumburmuzhy; a livestock and fodder research station under Kerala Agricultural University. Bamboo in fodder land of the research station serves many purposes. Basically it was planned and planted for building up a bio-fencing to prevent crop raid by wild herbivores from an adjacent Reserve forest. The terrain is so steep that water harvesting is a need and planting Bamboo at the fodder land limits; prevents soil erosion and holds the running water .More over the bamboo if selected can be a fodder replacer in scarcity. A field trial was laid out during 2008 Saplings of 20 varieties of exotic and indigenous Bamboo collected from gene pool of Scientific Institutions were planted around fodder lands. The CBF research station has 25 hectares of Land out of which 18 hectares are under fodder cultivation, It has a boundary of around one kilometer with reserve forest and another 2 kilometer boundary with National High way. Based on the growth parameters corresponding species of bamboo were selected and planned for planting in the boundary. One month old bamboo saplings were collected for this. Neither intercultural  operations nor agricultural care practices were done in these as we follow an organic fodder development. Varietal performance of the bamboo species were evaluated at periodic intervals. The height of the bamboo, number of clumps, girth and other foliage details were recorded at regular intervals. The Bamboo thickets and the fast increasing tillers formed the biological fencing around the boundary of the fodder land. Once the growth is complete the biological eco-friendly fencing will be an income generating plant source too. The effect of the root system of the bamboo planted around the fodder boundaries also prevented soil erosion. The runoff water that reaches the nearby Chalakudy river is a loss for the farm lands. The bamboo planted act as a barrier to block the runoff water and this in turn improved the water holding capacity of the fodder land. The bamboo root system will never hinder the growth of the fodder grass that is cultivated. The dried falling leaves unlike other tree species will not hamper the growth of fodder grass cultivated. Bamboo can be economically better in some types of terrains and lands. The fodder lands boundary .A list of the different ideal species of Bamboo for livestock fodder venture is presented and the growth rate of the species is also presented. This will give a farmer to ascertain his terrain and soil type and help him to select the ideal type of bamboo to be integrated with livestock and fodder. The revenue from this bio fencing will also be ascertained once the growth is complete. The major bamboo species grown at CBF Thumburmuzhy with better foliage were subjected to nutritional analysis. The different components like oxalate content, crude protein and crude fiber content of these bamboo types were evaluated and presented. The bamboo bio fencing is an ideal integration in livestock fodder venture.

Fodder Gene Sanctuary : a bio diversity conservation effort
benjamin e.d*; francis xavier, anju paul
CBF thumburmuzhy, kerala agricultural university; konnakuzhy p.o. 680721, chalakudy, thrissur, kerala, cbfthumburmuzhy@kau.in

First Indian Biodiversity Congress IBC 2010, National Seminar 28th  to 30th   Dec 2010 held at Thiruvananathapuram

Enclosure of the commons, consequent to the enactments of ecology related laws combined with the changes in land utilization pattern  in existing  fragmented land holdings and restructuring of socio cultural labyrinth ,  led to scarcity of grazing lands and pastures leading to a sharp decline in dairy animal population in the state of Kerala in recent years.  Cultivated green fodder is estimated at 7 million hectors in India  and is gaining in importance. Moreover, the feed cost in Dairy enterprises range to 70 -75%. Fast shrinkage of cultivable land due to the erodes by commercial ventures and the increased pressure on the remaining cultivable land is a major agrarian crisis in all districts of Kerala making the agricultural by-products a meagre source of cattle feed material. 42 million ton is the feed concentrate availability in the country though the requirement is 79 million ton. The green fodder availability in the country is 574 million tones as against a need of 745 million tones. .It is also evident from the land utilization records of Kerala which shows that out of the 3885497 hectares of available area, grazing land is only 253 hectares at a time when the milk production of Kerala has touched a higher level of 26.01 lakh tones with its dairy cattle population of 2490707. There exists a large gap between the requirement and availability. Under this scenario an  RKVY project  at Cattle Breeding Farm Thumburmuzhi, has collected 30 varieties of  hybrid fodder verities both exotic and indigenous,11 verities of fodder trees, and 15 varieties of bamboo  which may be developed into fodder and which can be effectively used for biological fencing, water conservation and improving biodiversity of different agro zones. Initiation of Gene sanctuary for fodder crops also paved the way for the selection  of a fodder christened “Thumburmuzhy1”. Laboratory analysis revealed 17% crude protein and 50% NFE.  It performed very well under water scarce  filed trials. The  selected and multiplied  fodder has been field tried in farmers fodder lands in different districts of Kerala. The growth details and performance details of this fodder biodiversity  are presented. The Thumburmuzhi fodder  has on an average 125 tillers and the stem remained tender, pointing to the immense potential this fodder in the Dairy sector of Kerala. As a biodiversity advantage, propagation of this fodder has to be taken up. Another wild fodder which was collected from the forest tribal habitat of Wayanad, was propagated and named ‘Sony Grass’(Thumburmuzhi 2). It grows to a height of 225 cm with a leaf length of 120 cm and a leaf width of 9 cm and this could withstand drought to a higher extent than other varieties of cultivated fodder. Two new fodder for the Dairy sector of Kerala is a major contribution to the biodiversity also.

Diverse Economy of Bamboo Biodiversity in Livestock based farming system

anju paul1, francis xavier², ann nisa thomas³

1&2 cbf thumburmuzhy, kerala agricultural universitykonnakkuzhy p.o., thrissur, kerala
3 kerala feeds ltd, kallettumkara, thrissur, kerala

First Indian Biodiversity Congress IBC 2010, National Seminar 28th  to 30th   Dec 2010 held at Thiruvananathapuram

Bamboo biodiversity in the estate of Kerala s fast depleting as bamboo rattans are highly scattered and its cultivation is highly limited.  Government of Kerala since 2005 has banned the unscrupulous harvesting of the bamboo biodiversity in the forest lands of the state with a view to preserve the bamboo biodiversity.  India has the second largest reserve of Bamboo in the world.  Fifteen different species of Bamboo were collected and planted in a Livestock Research station under Kerala Agricultural University at Thumburmuzhi.  Appropriate scientific spacing and planting of these Bamboo species around the boundary of the farm, was primarily intended for a bio-fencing to ward off wild ruminants from crop raid.  The Bamboo thus planted prevented soil erosion.  The root system blocked the runoff water and improved the water holding capacity of the fodder land.   Thus the growing bamboo acted as an aid in irrigation management of the fodder lands of a Livestock system.  The Bamboo species are selected in such a way that during the scarcity of fodder the bamboo leaves can be a replacer fodder for the livestock.  Moreover once the growth is completed the bamboo will fetch a reasonable income also.  A field trial was laid out and data on the height, number of clums, girth and other foliage details were recorded.  D.giganticus showed highest plant height, clum girth, leaf length and leaf width where as D Strictus had highest number of clums.   The height of selected bamboo species were measured at intervals and there was significant species difference in the height attainment.  B.strictus had the highest number of clums (52) and B mutans had the lowest (5).D.giganticus had 12 m height and 33 clums, the leaf length and leaf width showed that as a fodder Livestock farming  the fast growing species of Bamboo under trail were subjected to nutrient analysis.  The crude fibre, crude fat, and crude protein in fresh leaves samples and dried leaf samples of selected fast growing Bamboo species were ascertained and presented.  In 15 months growth stage B mutans and D.giganticus dried leaves showed a crude protein level (%) of 17.1 and 17.6 respectively which was the highest.  The average crude fibre content in all the samples analysed were 22.5 in fresh samples and 25.5 in dried foliage.  The observation revealed that the dried bamboo leaves can replace the dietary hay or paddy straw needs in livestock farms.  As paddy straw and agricultural by products as livestock feed are getting scarce, the dried leaves from the bio-fencing in livestock farms will be a boon to livestock farmers.  Based on the growth parameters and the nutritional analysis of the growing Bamboo species at CBF Thumburmuzhy, under Kerala Agricultural University, ideal species of bamboo for livestock fodder enterprise is suggested.