Rangeland conservation and Restoration

The study was conducted to assess the husbandry practices of dairy cattle, feed resources, and dairy products processing and marketing systems. Stratified random sampling was applied to select 213 households from urban, peri-urban and rural areas. Structured questionnaire were used to collect primary information. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the collected data. The study found that 2.5(0.11) dairy cattle were owned per household (mean with SE). About 40.4% of the respondents owned crossbred dairy cattle and 92.0% preferred crossbred animals to expand their dairy farm. Extensive production system (mostly open grazing and without appropriate housing) was dominantly (70.0%) practiced. Grazing pasture, crop-residues and improved forages were the common feed resources. Most of the respondents (71.8%) offered the supplementary feeds for lactating cows. As overall, 6.9(38) kg of supplement feed was offered per animal/day. About 44.6% of the respondents gave priority to age for first mating of heifers (P<0.001).Heifers were allowed for mating at 35.3(0.84) months of age. Cows were kept in the production system for 8.3(0.16) years. Women took the higher share in milking and dairy products processing activities. About 81.3%, 65.4 and 50.8% of respondents in urban, rural and peri-urban, respectively owned (P<0.05) either improved or local dairy products processing equipment. About ½ of the respondents processed the raw milk into cottage cheese, butter and cottage yoghurt. There were no formal dairy products marketing and cooperatives. Overall, 85.1% of the respondents would like to start dairy cooperatives. In conclusion, the majority of the respondents preferred to have crossbred dairy cattle thus to improve the dairying practices in the study areas, crossbreeding of local cattle breeds with exotic breed dairy types with better feeding, proper healthcare and housing management systems , conservation of available feed resources, establishing of formal dairy products marketing system and dairy cooperatives are very essential.

SUMMARY In the lowlands of arid and semiarid rangelands woody plants plays an important role in soil fertility maintenance, providing food, medicine, cosmetics, fodder, fuel wood and pesticides. A better understanding of the interaction of woody plants on their immediate environment is needed to guide optimum management of native vegetation in the production landscapes. However, the impact of woody plant species on soil properties remains poorly understood. This study evaluates the impact of two dominant woody plant species (A. senegal and B. aegyptica) on soil physico-chemical properties along grazing gradients in rangelands of eastern Ethiopia. Six trees of each species were selected from light, moderate and heavy grazing sites. Soil sample data at two depths (0-15 and 16-30 cm) were collected from under and open areas of A. senegal and B. aegyptica from each grazing sites, and analysed for nutrient contents. The nutrient status of soil under both woody species was significantly higher especially with regard to soil organic matter (4.37%), total nitrogen (0.313%), and available phosphorus (11.62) than the open grassland with soil organic matter (3.82%), total nitrogen (0.246%), and available phosphorus (10.94 mg/Kg soil) for A. Senegal. The soil organic matter (3.93%), total nitrogen (0.285%), available phosphorus (11.66 mg/Kg soil) were significantly higher than open grassland with soil organic matter (3.52%), total nitrogen (0.218%), available phosphorus (10.73 mg/Kg soil) for B. aegyptica. This was more pronounced in the top 15 cm of soil under A. senegal woody plant species and on the light and moderate grazing site. Therefore, this tree has a significant effect on soil fertility improvement in resource poor rangelands and as a result, it is important to retain scattered A. senegal and B. aegyptica plants in the lowlands of eastern Ethiopia. RESUMEN En las tierras bajas de los pastizales áridos y semiáridos, las plantas leñosas desempeñan un papel importante en el mantenimiento de la fertilidad del suelo, proporcionando alimentos, medicinas, cosméticos, forraje, leña y pesticidas. Se necesita una mejor comprensión de la interacción de las plantas leñosas en su entorno inmediato para guiar el manejo óptimo de la vegetación nativa en los paisajes de producción. Sin embargo, el impacto de las especies de plantas leñosas en las propiedades del suelo sigue siendo poco conocido. Este estudio evalúa el impacto de dos especies de plantas leñosas dominantes (A. senegal y B. aegyptica) en las propiedades fisicoquímicas del suelo a lo largo de los gradientes de pastoreo en los pastizales del este de Etiopía. Seis árboles de cada especie se seleccionaron de pastos ligeros, moderados y pesados. Se recogieron datos de la muestra de suelo a dos profundidades (0-15 y 16-30 cm) de áreas abiertas y abiertas de A. senegal y B. aegyptica de cada sitio de pastoreo y se analizaron los contenidos de nutrientes. El estado nutricional de los suelos bajo ambas especies leñosas fue significativamente mayor, especialmente con respecto a la materia orgánica del suelo (4.37%), nitrógeno total (0.313%) y fósforo disponible (11.62) Nitrógeno total (0.246%) y fósforo disponible (10.94 mg / Kg de suelo) para A. senegal. La materia orgánica del suelo (3.93%), el nitrógeno total (0.285%), el fósforo disponible (11.66 mg / Kg de suelo) fueron significativamente más altos que los pastizales abiertos con materia orgánica del suelo (3.52%), nitrógeno