Meaning and uses of pasture and forage crops

Pasture is a pieces of land on which forage crops or grasses or mixture of grasses and legumes grow. In other words, it refers to an area of land covered with forage crops which are usually grasses and legumes that are grazed or fed on by livestock such as cattle, sheep and goats.

Forage crops on the other hand our plants cultivated for their vegetative portions and used in fresh or preserved forms for feeding livestock.

Uses of forage crops

Forage crops have the following uses:

1.Livestock feed

Forage crops are usually used for feeding livestock like cattle, shape and goat. Hay, straw and silage are prepared for forage crops.

2. As cover crops

Most forage crops, especially the leguminous plants, serve as cobra crops which add nutrients to soil and control weed growth.

3. Conservation of soil moisture

Most forage crops, especially leguminous plants, help to conserve soil moisture by preventing evaporation.

4. Prevention of erosion

Some forage crops, especially leguminous plants, help to prevent water and wind erosion.

5. As green manure

Forage crops, especially when they are young could be ploughed into the soil as green manure.

6. For roofing farmsteads

Some forage crops like guinea grass and elephant grass are usually used for roofing farm seeds as a result of their strong stems and plenty leaves.

7. As bedding materials

Most forage crops serve as bedding materials for animals.

Types of pasture

There are two main types of pasture. These are:

Natural pasture

Natural pasture is also referred to as grassland or rangeland. This is a natural occuring area of containing gases and legumes used for feeding livestock such as cattle, sheep and goat. In this pasture, grasses and legumes grow naturally on their own and are fed up on by farm animals, i.e. grasses are not planted by farmers. Examples of natural grassland are found in the savanna areas of Nigeria.

Characteristics of features of natural pasture

1. Natural pasture on grassland contains poor quality grasses and legumes.
2. it contains soil types that are low infertility or nutrients
3. it contains wild varieties of grasses and legumes some of which may not be eaten by livestock.
4. it has good regenerative ability
5. productivity of natural pasture is very low and resistance to drought
6. forage crops in natural pasture can withstand trampling by farm animals.
7. natural pasture may contain some grasses which cannot be easily eradicated
8. new growth is stimulated by burning.

characteristics of features of artificial pasture

1. It contains high quality grasses and legumes
2. it contains no weed except some shade trees.
3. selected grasses and legumes are grown in an adequate proportion
4. it has high regenerative ability after being fed on by animals.
5. it can withstand trampling by farm animals.
6. it is properly managed for high productivity of the forage crops,example fertilization, irrigation and rational grazing.

differences between natural pasture and artificial pasture

Natural pasture refers an area of land covered with forage grasses and legumes which are not planted by Man while on the other hand artificial pasture refers to an area of land covered with forage grasses and Legumes which are planted by Man.

Quality of a good pasture plant

1. Ability to regenerate fast after being browsed
2. Ability to withstand trampling effect of the grazing animals
3. A good Pasture plant must be highly palatable.
4. It must possess high value of nutrients
5. Ability to withstand extremes of climatic conditions.
6. It should have moderate moisture content or succulent
7. it must have a high leaf to stem ratio

Characteristics of some pasture crops

1. Guinea grass (panicum maximum): it is a dominant pasture grass in the rainforest zone. It is a bunchy or a erect or tufted grass. It has a vigorous growth of about 2m tall. It is a perennial and has short underground rootstock. It is drought resistant with high leaf to stem ratio. It is propagated by seed or stolon it is palatable to livestock and also good for making of hay.
2. elephant grass (pennisetum purpureum): It is a widely distributed pasture grass throughout the rainforest zone. It is erect and of about 3 – 5m tall. It is a perennial grass with cane-like stem and dull green or purplish blades. It is a highly yielding grass propagated by stolon and it is good for making silage.
3. Giant star grass ( cynodon plectostachyum): It is a spreading, drought resistant perennial grass with a long and rapidly growing stem. This grass can grow more than one meter high it is most easily propagated by cuttings and once established,it spr ads very quickly thereby making it difficult to control. It makes a nutritious pasture grass and responds well to fertilizers especially phosphate fertilizers.
4. Centro ( Centrosema pubescens): It is a vigorous and an aggressive growing legume. It is a creeping and twinning plant with trifoliate leaves that are attached to the stem by a pulvinus. Stem and leaves are hairless . It is leafy, perennial, shade-tolerant and drought-resistant legumes. It is self-seeding as the odd split open by explosive mechanism during the dry weather and the seeds germinate during the following rainy season. It is palatable and highly nutritious to ruminants. It is highly nodulated and does well in combination with guinea grass.
5. Carpet grass (Axonopus compre-ssus): It is a perennial and creeping type of grass. Its stem are creeping, short, compressed and two edged. The stems have the tendency to root at the nodes. The grass does best on soil where the moisture is near to the surface but not on swamps. It is very aggressive and not nutritive. Hence, it is not so much recommended for pasture.
6. Tropical Kudzu (pueraria phaseoloides): It is a vigorous climbing and perennial legume. It’s stem and leaves are densely hairy and spread over the soil to form a good cover crops. Leaves are trifoliate. It is sensitive to soil moisture and stress and cannot survive drought condition. It is a propagated by seeds and it’s roots are nodulated. It is usually avoided by cattle on range, and it can be used as hay and silage.
7. Stylo (stylosanthes gracilis): It reaches 60 – 89cm in height. When kept short through regular cutting or grazing, it develops into a leafy plant, which is highly nodulated. Leaves are trifoliate and creep along the ground. Thay are drought-resistant, propagated by seeds and perform better in dry areas. It takes livestock a little while to get used to the taste.

Factors affecting the distribution of pasture

Factors affecting the distribution of pasture can be grouped into threeain classes:

1. Climatic factors: The type of climate in an area influences the type of vegetation in that particular area. For example, sudan type of climate favours the growth of grasses and Legumes while Equatorial climate does not. Elements of climate which can directly influence the distribution of pasture are rainfall,wind, temperature, relative humidity, day length, sunlight, etc
2. Soil or edaphic factors: This refers to the level of fertility of the soil. Fertile soil tends to support pasture growth while poor soil does not. Soil factors which may influence the distribution of pasture are soil pH, soil texture, soil structure as well as the slope of the land(topography).
3. Biotic factors: Biotic factors like diseases, pests, parasites and predators generally influence the distribution of pasture. The activities of man such as bush burning and over grazing generally have adverse effects on the distribution of pasture.

Factors affecting the productivity of pasture

The factors include:

1. Persistence: this is the ability of the pasture crop to survive and spread by vegetative means
2. Aggressiveness: This is the ability of pasture to compete favorably with other weeds high aggressiveness ensures continuous availability of the pasture crops.
3. Resistance to trampling: This refers to the ability of pasture to resist continuous trampling by farm animals during grazing and still remain available to livestock to feed on.
4. Seed viability or profuseness: Seeds of pasture should be viable over a long period of time. It should be easily propagated to ensure high pasture productivity.
5. Resistance to drought: Pasture which is able to withstand drought helps to maintain high productivity and ensures all season availability of forage for livestock .
6. Pest and diseases: Absence of pest and diseases within a pasture ensures their increased productivity.
7. Accurate stocking: An accurate number of animals should graze a specified area of pasture. Overgrazing does not ensure increased productivity of pasture.
8. Good management: Proper management practices such as regular weeding, roguing, irrigation,good grazing and fertilization should be practiced to ensure increased productivity of pasture.