A trusted hat and two new shoes: Forages for Eco-efficiency

A trusted hat and two new shoes: Forages for Eco-efficiency by The Trusted (?) Heads

Forage germplasm developed through collection, selection and breeding Forages as high value products Forages integrated into developed to capture differentiated smallholder crop-livestock traditional and emerging markets for systems: Realizing smallholders livelihood and environmental benefits

Available expertise: Leader in international tropical forage research Werner Stur Asia Central America and Rein Van Der Hoek Caribbean Brigitte L. Maass Eastern/Southern Africa Michael Peters Germplasm John W. Miles Plant Genetics Siriwan D. Martens Animal Nutrition Idupulapati Rao (50%) Plant Physiology Federico Holmann (50%) Livestock Economics Elizabeth Alvarez (33%) Plant Pathology Manabu Ishitani (20%) Molecular Biology Cesar Cardona (Adviser) Entomology 30 National Staff Rainer Schultze-Kraft (Adviser) Genetic Resources

Matrix Regions Forages integrated into Outputs/ Forage germplasm Forages as high crop-livestock systems Regions developed value products Livelihood Environment South America Central America and Caribbean Southeast Asia Eastern and Southern Africa = Potential

Forage germplasm developed through collection, selection and breeding Forage germplasm

Intrapopulation recurrent selection based on a high capacity, reliable bioassay, has resulted in large gains in genetic resistance to spittlebug nymphs in a synthetic Brachiaria breeding population 1998 Resistant Intermediate Susceptible 2006 Resistant Intermediate Susceptible Forage germplasm

Evolution of a quick, high capacity screening technique to assess tolerance to adult spittlebug damage Single insect confined on a single leaf Several insects on small plant Tolerance to adult feeding expressed Mass screening Forage germplasm

Refining a reliable bioassay to assess genetic resistance to Rhizoctonia foliar blight in Brachiaria Resistant Intermediate Susceptible Forage germplasm

Resistance of Brachiaria to combined and individual abiotic stress factors Resistance to drought and aluminum Resistance to aluminum Ap. parent Apomictic hybrids B. decumbens BR05NO/0334 BR05NO/0537 CIAT 606 Root elongation with 0 and 200µM AlCl36H2O B. dec B. ruz cv. Toledo Al Drought + Al Forage germplasm

Tolerance of Brachiaria to waterlogging BR06/0584 BR05/01609 Tolerant hybrids CIAT 6133 CIAT 26110 Checks Genotypic differences in tolerance to waterlogging for 21 days BR02/0465 MX02/02775 Sensitive hybrids Forage germplasm

Total seed sales (tons) per year for the Brachiaria hybrids Mulato and Mulato II 821 tons (approx. 136.900 ha) tons Forage germplasm

Evaluation of Canavalia Dry matter IVDMD CP Accession CIAT (t/ha) (%) (%) Season Dry Wet C. brasiliensis 905 3.0 2.2 70 25 C. brasiliensis 7648 2.8 3.3 67 23 C. sp. 21012 2.8 2.5 65 24 C. brasiliensis 20303 2.3 3.2 64 24 C. brasiliensis 17009 2.3 2.6 68 26 Mean 2.6 2.8 67 24 • Wide adaptation to climate and soils • Soil cover ≥ 85% after 3 months • Dry season tolerance opens a significant time window for soil improvement without affecting grain production • High potential as green manure and dry season feed resource Forage germplasm

Forages as high value products developed to capture differentiated traditional and emerging markets for smallholders Forages as high value products

Forage conservation in Honduras Cost-benefit analysis: Cowpea hay versus commercial concentrate Cost Cost/kg milk Profit Milk production Feed/cow (income-cost) /kg (kg) US$ US$ US$ Concentrate 1.76 12.8 0.14 0.15 Cowpea hay 1.42 12.7 0.11 0.18 Cost concentrate: 0.27 US$/kg; cowpea hay: 0.05 US$/kg Forages as high value products

Forage conservation in Honduras • Increase of farms with silo 2005 to 2006  33 to 67 farms (203%) • Increase of silage produced 2005 to 2006  1650 to 3785 tons (222%) • Increase of smallholders using silages • Silage use in Yorito (26%), Yoro (10%), Sulaco (20%), Victoria (20%) Forages as high value products

Improving silage quality for pigs pH development in Canavalia brasiliensis medium inoculated with different Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) • Pre-condition: optimized isolates during 2 days of incubation ensiling technique, e.g. 5.2 P. acidilactici compaction, wrapping 5.0 Tiii 15 Tiii 5.2 S 94.1 • Ti 5 4.8 Additional energy sources Tiv 4.8 Tiv 17.6 4.6 Tvi 21.3 improve silage S 15.5 S 66.7 4.4 pH • 4.2 Inoculants such as selected 4.0 lactic acid bacteria improve fermentation and reduce anti- 3.8 nutritive compounds 10 20 30 40 50 Hours Forages as high value products

Legume supplementation of village pigs in Laos Assess the potential of forage legumes as a supplement to traditional pig diets • Feeding trials • Farmer evaluations • Village learning activities Impact of Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184 supplementation for local Lao pigs fattened in pens • Women save at least 1 hour per day ▪ Previously they had to search for naturally occurring green feeds for pigs in forests and fallow fields • Pigs grow twice as fast ▪ Daily average growth rates increased from 100 to 200 g per day Forages as high value products

Scaling out village pig work through a Learning Alliance Reaching more villages 1400 NGO Number of households 1200 District extension 1000 800 600 400 200 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year Reaching more families Vientiane Project sites NGO sites Forages as high value products

Feeding fish with improved grasses A success story in Tuyen Farmers who adopted improved Quang, Vietnam grasses were able to harvest 63% more fish by weight as well as to obtain 10.7% higher price per kilo of fish because they received a “premium” due to the sale of heavier, larger fish Forage adopters earned 2.3 times more income per pond and the return to family labor was five times greater compared to farmers who produced fish in the traditional way Forages as high value products

Forages integrated into smallholder crop-livestock systems: Realizing livelihood and environmental benefits Forages integrated into smallholder systems

Realizing the benefits of Canavalia brasiliensis in smallholder production system in CA hillsides • Continuous staple crop (maize, beans) production • Overall soil fertility decline, low crop and animal production (6 months dry season) • Canavalia brasiliensis as green manure or as dry season feed focusing on (N) fluxes • Farmers integrate Canavalia to substitute fertilizers, to increase dry season milk production and to recuperate degraded soils • Canavalia derives more than 50% of N from the atmosphere increasing N-balance Feed biomass availability increased by a tonne per ha 7 6 5 kg/day/animal 4 3 2 1 0 Control Canavalia Control Canavalia Control Canavalia Farm 1 Farm 2 Farm 3 Higher milk production of one kg/animal/day with no negative effect on milk quality Forages integrated into smallholder systems

The case of EMPRASEFOR, Honduras • A group of farmers - with strategic help of CIAT and local partners - runs a forage seed production enterprise based on Brachiaria brizantha CIAT 26110 “Toledo” during 8 years, with several tons of seed marketed • Results have been variable due to unpredictable climatic events in combination with low input use • Concept has however shown strong resilience to setbacks • Farmers have started to diversify into related activities like production of concentrates using locally produced forages • Approach is replicable with an investment of around US $ 2.000 Forages integrated into smallholder systems

Adoption of alternative forages by households in Ea Kar, Daklak, Viet Nam, 2007 > 30% of >20% of households with cattle grow forages 3000 Number of households 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Years Forages integrated into smallholder systems

Reduced N2O emissions from Brachiaria humidicola 1200 1000 N2O (mg m-2y-1) 800 600 400 200 0 Bh 16888 Bh 679 Hybrid P.maximum Soybean Bare Soil Mulato Field validation of biological nitrification inhibition from Brachiaria humidicola Forages integrated into smallholder systems

SoFT– A tool for targeting forages 18000 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Number of visits Approx. 10,000 pages visited per month since launch in 2005

Forages and Eco-efficiency • Improved adaptation to abiotic stress factors improves resource use efficiency • Disease and pest tolerance/resistance improves resource use efficiency • CIAT’s forage work emphasizes adaptation to marginal conditions providing higher value options in stressed environments • Forages improve soil fertility through effects on soil structure, organic matter content and nitrogen fixation, nutrient mining and reduce erosion

Forages and Eco-efficiency cont. • Forages can improve existing farming systems and contribute to developing alternative land uses • Integration of forages into cropping systems has benefits on productivity and resilience of systems • Forages improve resilience of vulnerable systems, leading to healthier, higher quality products • Multiple benefits but trade-offs (e.g. feed, green manure, cover, wood …) • Improved forages reduce global warming potential, by improving carbon sequestration, reducing nitrous oxide emissions and methane production per unit animal product • Improved forages could reduce negative effects of livestock production by reversing land degradation

Forages as key components in CIAT’s strategy for eco-efficiency Forages integrated into crop- Outputs/ Forage germplasm Forages as high livestock systems CIAT Programs developed value products Livelihood Environment Agrosalud/Harvest Plus GRU Biotech Beans Cassava/Clayuca High value Agroenterprises CIAT-TSBF (ISFM/ SLM) Decision and Policy Analysis Gender Analysis/ Participatory Research Amazon Initiative/Tropical Fruits = Potential

Outlook: What’s next • Germplasm development is the basis for any work on/with forages • Consolidate/amplify research on high value options • Increase research on forages in crop livestock systems for improved livelihoods and the environment: Adaptation to AND mitigation of climate change, trade-offs (economic, environmental), restoring degraded lands, water (?), environmental services (?), • Planting material (seed and vegetative) supply in systems • Strengthen work in Eastern and Southern Africa • Capacity building and knowledge sharing remains a challenge • Advocacy on importance of tropical forages for eco-efficient systems

Gracias Father`s day in Germany, May 21 Another use of pastures Source: WWW.CartoonStock.com Eales Stan

A trusted hat and two new shoes: Forages for Eco-efficiency

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A trusted hat and two new shoes: Forages for Eco-efficiency Presentation Transcript