Tackling the future challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry - vTI

! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723
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ter bodies and underground water. The manure also sometimes builds up and occupies considerable
spaces that could otherwise be profitably used. Some pilot studies (Onifade et al., 2005; Sodeinde et
al., 2009) have shown that some of the manure can be profitably used for improved production of
some forage grasses. Using the manure for increased pasture production may, in fact, be a means of
recycling the waste for environmental sustainability and may, on the long run, revolutionize
ruminant livestock production in Nigeria. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of
various animal manure (Cattle, sheep/goat, swine, poultry and No manure - control) and cutting
intervals (4, 8, 12 and 16weeks) on the dry matter productivity and nutritive quality of three forage
grasses (Panicum maximum (Local), P. maximum (Ntchisi) and Pennisetum purpureum) in
Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Materials and methods
The field experiment was conducted at the Organic Research farm, University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta (UNAAB), Ogun State, Nigeria and laboratory analyses were carried out at the laboratory
of the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Hunan, China. The land was cleared, ploughed and
harrowed after two weeks, and the experimental land measuring 4,265m 2 was mapped out. Manure
from four animal species namely: cattle, sheep/goat, swine and poultry were collected from the
Teaching and Research Farm and used for the study. Sub-samples were taken from each manure
type and analyzed prior to application to determine their nutrient composition. The crown splits of
the P. maximum varieties and stem of P. purpureum were sourced from previously established plots
on the Teaching and Research farm and planted at the spacing of 0.5m x 0.5m so that each plot had
forty-eight grass stands. The study was a factorial experiment in a split-split-plot design with the
main plot measuring 15m x 15m, sub plot 4m x 15m and the sub-sub-plot was 4m x 3m. The manure
types were allotted to the main plot, the grass species to the sub plot while the harvesting intervals
were allotted to the sub-sub plot. The three grasses (P. maximum (Local), P. maximum
(Ntchisi), and P. purpureum); four harvesting intervals (4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks after planting) and
four manure types plus control (i.e. cattle, sheep/goat, swine, poultry manure, and no manure) constitute
the treatments totaling sixty (60) treatment-combinations with three replicates.
Results and discussion
The effect of manure type was significant (P