Preliminary studies into bush utilization by cattle in Zambia.
Abstract
In Zambia the dry season is from April to November. Miombo woodland is of marginal value for general agricultural use. In August and again in October 4 zebu yearling bullocks spent 2 days in each of 3 paddocks of 0.2 ha of woodland, in which there was grass available, and trees were lopped to make the browse accessible. The range of species of trees was wide, and differed among paddocks. Intake of browse was estimated by marking branches before and after the bullocks had been there. The standard error of estimate was 50% and results could only be considered indicative. Average intake of browse in August was 1.6 kg DM a day, supplying 111 g available protein and 34% of requirement of metabolizable energy (ME) for maintenance. In October intakes of DM and available protein were 6.4 kg and 713 g; the browse had 2.1 kcal ME/kg and should be sufficient for 750 g daily gain.