Multidimensional crop improvement to increase
overall productivity in mixed crop-livestock
systems and to support intensification of
livestock
Michael Blümmel, Purvi Mehta and Iain A. Wright
Norman Borlaug Centenary Dialogue, Chennai, India 13-15
March 2014

Topics
2
 Importance of crop residues as feed resource:
contribution, demand, monetary value
 What differences/quality increments in crop
residue fodder quality matter, and why
 Exploitable variation in fodder traits in existing
cultivars
 Targeted genetic enhancement in fodder traits
 Feed and intensification of dairy production

Dual-purpose crops: demand,
value and exploiting existing
variations
3

4
Key feed sources in India: 2003
and 2020
Feed Resource %
Crop Residues
Planted fodder crops
2003 2020
44.2 69.0
34.1 ?
Greens (F/F/CPR/WL) 17.8 <10
Concentrates 3.9 7.3
(summarized from NIANP, 2005 and Ramachandra et al., 2007)

Sorghum stover trading in Hyderabad
5

Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Ju Jul Aug Sep Oc Nov
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Sorghum grain
Sorghum stover
3.4
6.5
Month of trading
IndianRupeeperkg
Yearly mean
2004 to 2005
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Ju Jul Aug Sep Oc Nov
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Sorghum stover
Sorghum grain
6.2
10.2
Yearly mean
2008 to 2009
Month of trading
Comparisions of average cost of dry sorghum stover traded in Hyderabad and average of cost of
sorghum grain in Andhra Pradesh 2005 to 2005 and 2008 to 2009
Changes in grain: stover value in sorghum
traded in Hyderabad from 2004 to 2009

Type and cost of sorghum stover traded monthly
2004-2005 in Hyderabad, India
Stover type Price IR / kg DM
Andhra 3.52b
Andhra Hybrid 3.15cd
Ballary Hybrid 3.54b
Raichur 3.89a
Rayalaseema 3.23c
Telangana (Local Y) 3.06d
7Blümmel and Parthasarathy, 2006

Relation between digestibility and price of
sorghum stover
44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55
2.8
3.0
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
4.0
4.2
y = -4.9 + 0.17x; R2
= 0.75; P = 0.03
Stover in vitro digestibility (%)
Stoverprice(IR/kgDM)
Premium Stover
“Raichur”
Low Cost Stover
“Local Yellow”
Blümmel and Parthasarathy, 2006

9
Large scale rice straw
trading in Bihar, India
Chopping and retailing of
rice straw in Bihar, India

Price: quality relation estimates in rice straw traded
monthly in Kolkata from 2008 to 2009
37.0 37.5 38.0 38.5 39.0 39.5 40.0 40.5 41.0 41.5 42.0
2.75
3.00
3.25
3.50
3.75
4.00
4.25
Best (n=81)
Good (n=260)
Medium/low
(n=273)
In vitro digestibility of rice straw (%)
PriceofricestrawatKolkatatraders
from2008-2009(IndianRupees/kg)
Teufel et al., 2010

Ingredients %
Sorghum stover 50
Bran/husks/hulls 18
Oilcakes 18
Molasses 8
Grains 4
Minerals, vitamins, urea 2
Feed block manufacturing: supplementation,
densification
Courtesy: Miracle Fodder and Feeds PVT LTD

Comparisons of higher and lower quality sorghum
stover based complete feed blocks in dairy buffalo
Block High
(52% dig)
Block Low
(47% dig)
CP 17.2 % 17.1%
ME (MJ/kg) 8.46 MJ/kg 7.37 MJ/kg
DMI 19.7 kg/d 18.0 kg/d
DMI per kg LW 3.6 % 3.3 %
Milk Potential 16.6 kg/d 11.8 kg/d
Anandan et al. (2009a)

Stover digestibility and grain yield in new sorghum cultivars
release-tested in India between 2002 and 2008
34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
Kharif: y = 1473 + 44.2x; r = 0.17; P=0.05
Rabi: y = 9208 -132x; r = -0.47; P < 0.0001
Stover in vitro organic digestibility (%)
Grainyield(kg/ha)
Blümmel et al. 2010

Straw in vitro organic matter digestibility and grain yield in
437 cultivars from IRRI
32.5 35.0 37.5 40.0 42.5 45.0 47.5 50.0 52.5
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
AROMATICS
HYBRIDS
INDICA
NPT
Released varieties
y = 10 650 - 103.7x; r= - 0.19 P=<0.0001
Straw in vitro organic matter digestibility (%)
Grainyield(kg/ha)
Source: Blümmel et al. 2007

Blümmel et al., unpublished

Blümmel et al., unpublished

Dual-purpose crops:
targeted genetic
enhancement

Response of stover in vitro digestibility to 2
cycles of selection
Digestibility
%
Grain Yield
kg/ha
Stover yield
kg/ha
Original 43.6 2 669 3 095
H1 44.5 2 596 3 460
L1 42.1 2 592 2 889
H2 45.8 2 564 3 168
L2 42.0 2 408 2 731
Choudhary et al (in preparation )

Mode of inheritance of some key traits in pearl
millet stover
Trait Parent Crosses
High Low H x H H x L L x L
N % 0.85 0.72 0.84 0.80 0.73
Digest. % 43.3 40.3 43.7 42.2 40.3
Choudhary et al (2010)

Berhanu et al 2013

Blümmel at al., unpublished
Effect of introgression of different stay green QTL’s on
stover digestibity of a Rabi sorghum background

23
Qualitative trait prediction in plant breeding based
on Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS)
Non-evasive
c. 200 samples/d
>30 traits
Physico-chemical
c. 60 000 US $
Calibration
Validation
NIRS equations sharable across
compatible instruments
At current: ILRI

Key findings: dual-purpose crops targeted
genetic enhancement
Generally more expensive and longer term than exploiting
variations in existing dual–purpose cultivars
Conventional plant breeding can increase for example
digestibility by 3 to 5 percent units
 Several trait improvements feasible for example stay green
effects on fodder quality and water use efficiency
Need for more conceptually designed proof-of-concept research,
for example to determine ceiling values

Key elements of
intensification: relativity of
feed requirements and
implications

Feed allocation, methane production and
natural resource utilization
India: Livestock and milk in 2005-06
Milch animals Total animals Milk yield
x 103 kg/d
Cross Bred 8 216 28 391 6.44
Local 28 370 155 805 1.97
Buffalo 33 137 101 253 4.40
Overall herd mean 3.61 l/d

Actual average across herd milk yields (3.61 kg/d)
and scenario-dependent
ME requirements for total milk production (81.8
million t/y) in India in 2005
ME required (MJ x 109)
Milk (kg/d) Maintenance Production Total
3.61 (05/06) 1247.6 573.9 1821.5
6 (Scenario 1) 749.9 573.9 1323.8
9 (Scenario 2) 499.9 573.9 1073.8
12 (Scenario 3) 374.9 573.9 948.8
15 (Scenario 4) 299.9 573.9 873.9

Effect of increasing average daily milk yields on
overall methane emissions from dairy in India
0 3 6 9 12 15
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
Daily milk yield per animal (liter)
Methaneproduced(Tg)
current herd average milk yield of 3.61 l/d
(Blϋmmel et al. 2009)

(2005-06) 2020 2020 (fixed LP
Milk (million tons) 91.8 172 172
yield/day (kg) 3.6 5.24 6.76
Numbers (000) 69759 89920 * 69759
Metabolizable energy requirements (MJ x 109)
Maintenance 1247.64 1608.22 1247.6
Production 573.94 1075.00 1075.00
total 1821.58 2683.22 23266.6
Feed Req.( m tons) 247.50 364.57 315.6
* Calculated based on CAGR
Livestock revolution: Impact on energy and feed
requirements

Findings: key elements of intensification
Important to realize that feed demand is context specific
 Increasing per animal productivity and decreasing numbers
of animals will have multiple beneficial effects
 Reallocations of currently available feed resources in India
could probably raise per animal productivity to
10 to 12 kg of milk per day

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