Nutrient value of wild fodder species and the implications for improving the diet of mithun (Bos frontalis) in Dulongjiang area, Yunnan Province, China

Wild fodder plants are valuable because they provide an important livestock feed resource globally,especially for smallholder farmers,and have important roles in natural resource management.In-depth knowledge of wild forage plants can motivate local people for feed resource and habitat conservation of threatened herbivores such as Mithun(Bos frontalis).Mithun occur in small patches in the mountains of Dulongjiang,nearby villagers domesticated this animal but left animal to freely graze in the mountains.Many fodder plants occur in these mountains,however,little is known about their nutritional value.We conducted an ethnobotanical survey to document important wild fodder plants consumed by mithun in the Dulongjiang Township.The nutritional content of 21 highly mentioned wild fodder plants in an ethnobotanical survey was examined.Laboratory analysis showed that Fagopyrum dibotrys were the fodder species with the highest crude protein(CP)content(26.89%),followed by Polygonum molle(21.88%)and Hydrangea longipes(21.12%).Synthesis of relative feed value index and grey relational grade,P.molle,H.longipes and Tetrastigma obtectum were ranked the top three nutritional fodders.There was a significant difference between 21 species on their in vitro digestibility and the most highly digestible fodder species was Elatostema hookerianum.Linear model analysis on relationship between frequency of citation of 21 wild forage plants by local farmers and their nutrient composition showed that the frequency was significantly positively correlated with the nutritional value of the feed(R2?0.28,P<0.05).We concluded that these species have high nutritional values to improve mithun production in integrated crop-livestock systems.Fodder species or mixtures of species with useful nutritional characters could be cultivated to improve livestock productivity,habitat conservation including that of mithun and wild forage resource management.

Impact of land use and land cover changes on carbon storage in rubber dominated tropical Xishuangbanna,South West China

Land use and land cover(LULC)play a significant role in carbon regulation.South-China accounts for~65%of China’s carbon sink.In Xishuangbanna(South-China),rubber is expanding rapidly creating an urgent need to understand and monitor LULC change and how spatial variation affects carbon storage(CS).This is vital for the formation and implementation of better land use management practices.We studied LULC changes of 22-year period;addressing how these changes have affected the CS.We quantified LULC changes between1988 and 2010 using remote sensing methods and calculated CS changes using InvEST.Results showed that between 1988 and 2010,the rate of deforestation accelerated to 203.2 km^(2)y^(−1)and~23%of forest were lost.Conversion of natural forest to rubber was responsible for 78%of this deforestation.Rubber expansion rate was 153.4 km^(2)y^(−1).Changes to LULC drove a temporal CS reduction 0.223 Tg C/km^(2).Local stakeholders have strong economic interest in converting land to more profitable plantations.Government efforts is required to control land conversion through new policies and incentives to retain natural forest.Assessment of specific potential land use change will be required to avoid promoting the conversion of high carbon storage land uses to low carbon storage land uses.