Feeding costs could be reduced by use of alternative energy and protein sources. Leguminous trees remain green through the dry season, serving as a crude protein bank besides improving soil fertility through nitrogen ...Feeding costs could be reduced by use of alternative energy and protein sources. Leguminous trees remain green through the dry season, serving as a crude protein bank besides improving soil fertility through nitrogen fixation, nutrients recycling and stabilising soil on terraces. Some Kenyan farmers intercrop bananas with forages to cope with the perennial feed shortages. A simulation model assumed a family of six （husband, wife and four children） owning one cow producing 15 kg milk per day, living on 0.4 ha of land. Bananas grown on 0.36 ha in alleys of alternating rows ofLeucaena diversifolia and Calliandra calothyrses, intercropped with Guinea grass （Panicum maximum） and Desmodium uncinatum. Napier （Pennisetum purpureum） was planted in the alleys as a pure stand on 0.08 ha. Model analysis showed the household had adequate energy and protein all the year and was financially secured, with income exceeding routine expenditure. There were positive balances for nitrogen and phosphorus, but potassium application was required. A replica of the model was then tested.展开更多
文摘Feeding costs could be reduced by use of alternative energy and protein sources. Leguminous trees remain green through the dry season, serving as a crude protein bank besides improving soil fertility through nitrogen fixation, nutrients recycling and stabilising soil on terraces. Some Kenyan farmers intercrop bananas with forages to cope with the perennial feed shortages. A simulation model assumed a family of six （husband, wife and four children） owning one cow producing 15 kg milk per day, living on 0.4 ha of land. Bananas grown on 0.36 ha in alleys of alternating rows ofLeucaena diversifolia and Calliandra calothyrses, intercropped with Guinea grass （Panicum maximum） and Desmodium uncinatum. Napier （Pennisetum purpureum） was planted in the alleys as a pure stand on 0.08 ha. Model analysis showed the household had adequate energy and protein all the year and was financially secured, with income exceeding routine expenditure. There were positive balances for nitrogen and phosphorus, but potassium application was required. A replica of the model was then tested.
