Poor-quality feed, fluctuating feed supplies and seasonal feed shortages are major constraints to increasing livestock productivity in many tropical countries. Forage diversity is an essential resource for the selection and breeding of superior forages for use in smallholder farming to alleviate these constraints.
This poster, prepared for the Tropentag 2014 conference, describes forage diversity activities at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) which include maintaining a forages collection of about 19,000 accessions from over 1400 species of forage grasses, legumes, fodder trees and shrubs and researching forages suitability as livestock feed and their adaptation to various environments.
This week, ILRI staff are participating in the Tropentag 2014 International Conference in Prague (17-19 September 2014). There is also a dedicated ‘ILRI@40’ side event on ‘Livestock-based options for sustainable food and nutritional security and healthy lives.’ See all the posters.
