The government of the state of Odisha, in eastern India, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) will work together to provide improved feed and fodder to livestock in the state (formerly known as Orissa) in a new three-year project. Continue reading
Brachiaria grass is helping Kenyan farmers boost their dairy production and alleviate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and ground water pollution. Continue reading
Odisha (formerly known as Orissa), an economically fast-growing state in eastern India, on the Bay of Bengal, is facing an emerging fodder crisis. The people of this state depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods, and animal husbandry is widely practiced. One pathway out of of poverty for many here is to increase the efficiency and levels of their small-scale livestock production to meet the growing demand in India for more milk and meat. But without feed to give their cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminant animals, the state’s many millions of livestock producers will be unable to improve or increase their productivity. New results of a study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) show that lack of adequate amounts and quality of fodder is one of the biggest constraints these farmers face. A solution, say ILRI scientists, is to make better use of the residues of rice and maize (paddy straw and maize stover) as supplementary livestock feed. Continue reading
The First Call for Papers for the 2016 International Rangeland Congress in Saskatoon, SK Canada is now open. Continue reading
The forage collection maintained by ILRI, for example, contains germplasm from around 19,000 plant populations representing over 1,400 forage species, including grasses, legumes and fodder trees, many of which are under threat in the wild from land use changes and over-grazing. ILRI’s forage collection is providing scientists with the genetic material to develop climate-smart, high yielding and disease tolerant varieties that will have a key role in Africa’s farming future. Continue reading
Research on disease-resistant Napier grass forage for dairy cows is a joint collaboration between ILRI, KALRO and the national research institutes of Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda under the East African Productivity project. Continue reading
The ‘FeedSeed’ project at the International Livestock Research Institute is working with public and private partners to help create a sustainable forage seed supply system in Ethiopia. The idea is to help local entrepreneurs start up forage seed businesses, mainly by establishing a public business incubator that can provide training and mentoring to the entrepreneurs. From 7-11 April 2014, the project organized a technical and business skills development training course for potential forage seed entrepreneurs. Continue reading
Alexandra Jorge just left ILRI to return to her native Mozambique. In this exit interview she reflects on her years at ILRI and activities of its forage genebank. Continue reading
On 10 January, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) inaugurated new nutrition laboratories at its Addis Ababa campus. Feed quality is in good hands again. The importance of feed quality Feed quality reflects the ability of a given feed to meet the daily nutrient needs of animals consuming the feed. Tremendous variation exists in nutrient … Continue reading
Every year International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)’s forage genebank plants about 900 accessions of forage germplasm to be regenerated (to produce new and more viable seeds) or multiplied (to increase the amount of seeds to make them available for distribution). Four field sites across Ethiopia are used to grow the 1500 different accessions (they needs … Continue reading
