Presenter Information

Chin Peng Chen, MARDI

Publication Date

1993

Description

The multi-stata canopy structure of rain forest allows only I% sunlight penetration, too little for the survival of forage beneath it. However, man-made forest plantation (rubber, oil palm and coconut) allows more light for forage species. Initially, 60-70 forage species were recorded under these modified forest canopies but only one third of them survived heavy shading. Forage dry matter yields declined from 2.8-4.8 I/ha DM at immature phase of plantations, to 0.1-1.0 I/Im at mautre phase. Nutrients. available to grazing animals from forages under plantations were guile high (18.4 kg Nit DM and 5609 MJ MEit DM) from native forages, compared with 21.3 kg N and 7331 MJ from improved tropical pastures. The forage resources was able to support from 3 Kedah-Kelantan (KK) cattle/ha or 17 sheepflia' in yo·ung oil palm and rubber, and to I KK or 2 sheep of closed canopy stage. Animal production under the livestock-tree cropping system was lower (128 kg/ha) than that achieved from ranching (410-789 kg/ha). However, the integration of trees and grazing animals has other advantages such as faster tree crop growth and higher tree yields, increased soil nutrients and better soil conditions, and reduced weeding cost. A combination of forage­native vegetation and tree crops, forming a multi-layer canopy against the monsoonal rains, produced less erosion than either just the plantation or the bare-ground control, The high nutrient losses in runoff could be an important factor in the non-persistence of tropical pastures. In the wet tropics, the creation of silvipastoral systems from livestock by integration of shrubs and trees with. improved grasslands would ensure not only sustainable agricultural activities and higher economic returns per unit land area, but also shorten the 10 to 12-year break-even period for establishing tropical pastures.

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Pastures as the Secondary Components in Tree-Pasture Systems

The multi-stata canopy structure of rain forest allows only I% sunlight penetration, too little for the survival of forage beneath it. However, man-made forest plantation (rubber, oil palm and coconut) allows more light for forage species. Initially, 60-70 forage species were recorded under these modified forest canopies but only one third of them survived heavy shading. Forage dry matter yields declined from 2.8-4.8 I/ha DM at immature phase of plantations, to 0.1-1.0 I/Im at mautre phase. Nutrients. available to grazing animals from forages under plantations were guile high (18.4 kg Nit DM and 5609 MJ MEit DM) from native forages, compared with 21.3 kg N and 7331 MJ from improved tropical pastures. The forage resources was able to support from 3 Kedah-Kelantan (KK) cattle/ha or 17 sheepflia' in yo·ung oil palm and rubber, and to I KK or 2 sheep of closed canopy stage. Animal production under the livestock-tree cropping system was lower (128 kg/ha) than that achieved from ranching (410-789 kg/ha). However, the integration of trees and grazing animals has other advantages such as faster tree crop growth and higher tree yields, increased soil nutrients and better soil conditions, and reduced weeding cost. A combination of forage­native vegetation and tree crops, forming a multi-layer canopy against the monsoonal rains, produced less erosion than either just the plantation or the bare-ground control, The high nutrient losses in runoff could be an important factor in the non-persistence of tropical pastures. In the wet tropics, the creation of silvipastoral systems from livestock by integration of shrubs and trees with. improved grasslands would ensure not only sustainable agricultural activities and higher economic returns per unit land area, but also shorten the 10 to 12-year break-even period for establishing tropical pastures.