Improvement of Livestock Production in Crop-Animal Systems in ...

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Malaysia is characterised by a humid tropical climate with heavy rainfall (2540 mm and above). Averagedaily temperatures are 21–32°C with humidity averaging about 85% (Mukherjee 1995). Three distinct soilgroups are recognised comprising the sedentary soils of the hills and mountains, and the alluvial and peatysoils of the lowlands and uplands. The sedentary soils are the most prone to erosion and the hills and mountainsto land degradation. However, unlike Indonesia and the Lao PDR, shifting cultivation is not an importantsystem in Malaysia. Thus, environmental problems associated with this system are not obvious. The uniformhumid tropical climate favours tree growth, and evergreen tropical rainforest and perennial tree crops inplantations provide soil cover against major erosion over a wide area. However, environmental degradationin swamp lands has recently become a major concern; intensive pig and poultry enterprises are also associatedwith pollution.Animal resourcesBoth ruminants and non-ruminants are present, but it is the pig and poultry sub-sectors that have made thegreatest progress over the last three decades. This is reflected in self-sufficiency in pork, poultry meat andeggs. However, large scale commercialisation has taken place at a very high cost (>US$ 800 million in termsof imported feed ingredients, mainly maize and protein supplements). Ruminant production has recordedpoor growth rates and current beef, goat meat and mutton requirements are largely met by imports. Theindigenous ruminants, with the exception of swamp buffaloes, have been the subject of improvement throughthe introduction of exotic breeds.Animal production systemsAnimal production systems involve both ruminants and non-ruminants. Ruminant production systems aresimilar to those in other countries, and involve stall-feeding, tethering, and free grazing. Smallholders areparticularly involved in beef and dairy production from cattle, and meat production from goats and sheep.Non-ruminants (chicken, pigs and ducks) are also important in subsistence production systems that aresometimes integrated with rice and aquaculture (Mukherjee et al 1992). However, chicken and pigs are alsoassociated with commercialised intensive systems.The grazing of ruminants under tree crops is not a new practice, but the more systematic integration ofanimals, focusing on the plantation system, has been developed only since 1974. Some 74,000 sheep (44%of the national flock) were under plantation crops in 1989, and 15,000 cattle in the Malaysian Federal LandDevelopment Authority (FELDA) plantations in 1994. Stocking rates of 3.0 sheep/ha and 0.25 cattle/ha areachievable under tree crops. In 1989, the total sheep population in Malaysia was only 168,200. If only 50%of the oil palm plantations were utilised, an extra 3.3 million sheep and 275,000 cattle could be reared. Underrubber, if only 20% of the area could be integrated with sheep, at the same stocking rate of 3.0 sheep/ha, thetotal number reared would be approximately 1.1 million. These carrying capacities could be increased furtherwith the feeding of AIBP from the trees. This would contribute significantly to reversing the deficits in localruminant meat production, and reduce the loss of foreign exchange.Most of the expansion of ruminant production in the future will occur in these systems. Ruminantsprovide manure to increase soil fertility and tree yields, and control weeds. There are no specialised pasturesoutside of these systems and grassland-based systems have proved uneconomic in the past. Some 200,000ha of wasteland exist which could be used for forestry and for integration with animal production. Plantationsare owned by large commercial companies and by smallholders participating in government schemes.Feed resourcesAlthough arable land is already over-cultivated, it remains an important source of crop residues and AIBPfor ruminants. The overall feed supplies for ruminants, based on calculations of availability from nativeherbage and AIBP (rice, coconut and oil palm), are in excess of their requirements. AIBP from oil palminclude fronds, palm press fibre, palm kernel cake and palm oil mill effluent. The development of integratedsystems involving ruminants and oil palm cultivation should involve the simultaneous and intensive use ofthese AIBP in situ.
The availability of feed in rubber and oil palm systems is regarded as a priority constraint. In youngplantations, significant forage resources are available, consisting of native grasses and some leguminouscover crops. Annual dry matter yields in the first three years are of the order of 1000–3000 kg/ha. Afterthree to five years, light penetration through the canopy declines, and the legumes are replaced by nativespecies of low productivity that cannot sustain high stocking rates. Annual dry matter yields after six orseven years may be as low as 400–800 kg/ha. Under immature rubber plantations of three years of age,light penetration is about 89%, falling to 18–22% at seven years of age. Under oil palm, light penetrationfalls from 80% at five years of age to 50% at nine years of age. A significant amount of work has beenconducted to try to select species tolerant of deep shade that would persist after five years. This work hasbeen largely unsuccessful under traditional planting methods. However, the new technique of doublehedgerowplanting, which allows for an avenue of 22 m, offers potential for undersowing with improvedpasture species and maintaining forage production over a longer period without reducing rubber yields.If farmers could be persuaded to replant using this method, there would be opportunities for re-evaluatingsome previously unsuccessful species.Relatively little work has been conducted with multipurpose trees. Most of the recent work has involvedan evaluation of Leucaena hybrids developed for acid soil-tolerance. However, these lines are apparently notpsyllid-resistant. A wide range of tree germplasm is now available from other genera and species, and couldbe evaluated for use in plantation systems.Animal health and diseasesAnimal diseases reported in Malaysia are given by Campbell (1992). Foot-and-mouth disease andhaemorrhagic septicaemia are the main problems affecting cattle and buffaloes. Foot-and-mouth diseaseoccurs periodically in the border states in Peninsular Malaysia through the illegal importation of animals andmeat. Sabah and Sarawak are free from this disease. Haemorrhagic septicaemia appears sporadically in thestates of Kedah, Perak and Perlis. There have also been sporadic outbreaks of Newcastle disease and fowlpox in poultry. Several indigenous breeds are resistant to diseases including Kedah-Kelantan cattle toanaplasmosis and babesiosis, and Tjang goats to internal parasites.The use of oil palm by-products at high dietary levels may be hazardous to the health of some ruminants.For example, in palm kernel cake there is an imbalance of calcium and phosphorus and a high concentrationof copper. Rumen function may be impaired in animals fed high levels of this AIBP. Sheep are verysusceptible and rapidly develop jaundice, although goats seem to have less problems.Socio-economic aspectsEconomic benefitsThe economic benefits from tree crop–animal integration are both direct and indirect. The direct benefit isthe net value of the additional animal units produced in a given land area. Indirect benefits are in the form ofreduced fertiliser and weeding costs and the value of the manure returned by animals. For example, anexperiment on small-scale sheep grazing in oil palm and rubber estates resulted in a profit of US$ 22 per eweor US$ 1309 per farm, with an average flock of 55 ewes. In another experiment, sheep grazing under plantationcrops in Johore and Selangor gave a profit of US$ 2.53 and US$ 2.90 per kg carcass weight, respectively. Ofthese, 95% were direct benefits but indirect benefits were measured inadequately.Socio-economic constraintsDevelopment of the commercial poultry and pig sectors is very advanced and is largely in the hands of theprivate sector. Although highly dependent on imported feed ingredients such as maize, soyabean meal andfishmeal, the country is self-sufficient in poultry and pigs. On the other hand, sufficiency levels for ruminantsare very low (20% for beef and 10% for sheep), and significant numbers of cattle are imported from elsewherein the region, notably Australasia.
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Affiliation of Authors:Dr C. Devend
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6.Strategyfor researchJustification
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AcknowledgementsThe International L
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esearch opportunities appropriate t
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Table 1.Animal populations and meat
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Introduction2. Characterisation and
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Figure 2. Sub-humid tropics and sub
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Table 3.Human and animal population
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Table 5. Rice-growing environments
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Multiple upland annual crop systems
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Table 6. Continued.Country Importan
Page 25 and 26: It should be noted that, compared w
Page 27 and 28: Table 8.CountryCambodiaChinaIndones
Page 29 and 30: of non-renewable fossil fuels and t
Page 31 and 32: Overview of researchThere was a sur
Page 33 and 34: • Identification of alternative c
Page 35 and 36: Various animal production systems t
Page 37 and 38: Presently, much of the vegetable pr
Page 39 and 40: Table 10. Summary of the main socio
Page 41 and 42: Table 11. Institutions and organisa
Page 43 and 44: 3. In the ASEAN sub-region, inadequ
Page 45 and 46: Table 12. Continued.SituationsPract
Page 47 and 48: 6. Strategy for researchJustificati
Page 49 and 50: Table 13. Priorities for research a
Page 51 and 52: VietnamResearch capacity in NARS is
Page 53 and 54: CRIFC (Central Research Institute f
Page 55 and 56: IAS. 1995. Proceedings of the Works
Page 57 and 58: Systems of sub-Saharan Africa. Volu
Page 59 and 60: or waterlogged in the wet season an
Page 61 and 62: Table A1. Important diseases of ani
Page 63 and 64: • Increased cropping intensities,
Page 65 and 66: the animal output came from pigs al
Page 67 and 68: 18-21° North, with an average rain
Page 69 and 70: In the Nusa Tenggara islands, signi
Page 71 and 72: Women work 11.5 h/day on average co
Page 73 and 74: Various Australian forage projects
Page 75: village production systems; to stud
Page 79 and 80: of the Ayeyarwady and Sittang river
Page 81 and 82: Constraints and opportunitiesInadeq
Page 83 and 84: gaining in importance, and signific
Page 85 and 86: Table A3. Characterisation of crop-
Page 87 and 88: Table A4. Interventions in crop-ani
Page 89 and 90: Table A4. Continued.Project TitleGo
Page 91 and 92: otations are practised, and there a
Page 93 and 94: such as abortion. Vaccination cover
Page 95 and 96: large areas of forests (3.4 million
Page 97 and 98: Table A6. Some animal diseases repo
Page 99 and 100: Appendix IIItineraryThe Philippines
Page 101 and 102: 26 November 1996 am Visit to small
Page 103 and 104: Appendix IIIList of persons metPhil
Page 105 and 106: Mr Chhiv Nan, Acting Director, Depa
Page 107 and 108: Dr U Maung Ngint, Managing Director
Page 109: List of acronymsAARDACIARADBAEZAIBP
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