AVAILABILITY OF GRASS FORAGES IN AKINYELE INTERNATIONAL CATTLE MARKET, IBADAN

Abstract

The study was carried out at Akinyele international Cattle Market, Ibadan. A period of 15 days was used to monitor the inflow of grass brought to feed cattle by direct observation using checklist. Relevant information on source of grass, types of grass and quantity supplied were gathered. The study revealed that grass was brought from 30 different locations within Oyo state. The location with highest contribution of grass forages supplied was Fiditi (103±68.71) while the lowest is from Sogunro (11.00±0.00) and Oloosa-oko (11.00±0.00) respectively. Five different grass species were brought to feed cattle at the study area with the highest being Pennisetum purpureum (59%) and the least Pennisetum pedicellatum (10%). The largest quantity of grass was brought on Fridays while the smallest was on Tuesdays. The study revealed that there is consistent inflow of different species of grass to the study area from various locations.