EVALUATION OF FORAGE RESOUCES OF THE ZANGE GRAZING RESERVE

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate dry matter yield and nutritive value of species in the Zange grazing reserve of Gombe state (latitude 10° 28 to 12° 49'N and longitude 10° 05 to 12" 06 E). Grazing resource assessment was conducted to identify plant species within the pasture sward from a 100m x 100m land area in 15 different locations within the reserve from July and at 30-days intervals within 20 metre interval, within a 50cm x 50cm open-ended quadrat. The forage samples were analyzed for proximate and fibre analysis. The result showed that seasonal dry matter yield (DMY kg/ha) on offer at the early wet season produced 702.9 DMY kg/ha with estimated carrying capacity (CC) of 1.92 ha per Animal unit (AU). Late dry season produced 2835.69 DMY kg/ha with CC of 0.49 ha/AU. Forages differed significantly P<0.05 with seasons for DM, OM, CP, ADF and ADL; other nutrients evaluated were statistically comparable, there is no significantly P<0.05 differences between season in mineral contents of composite feed material, mineral that were likely to be limiting for beef production in Zange grazing reserve were P, K, Mg, Zn and Cu. From the result obtained it is concluded that the reserve is facing problem of qualitative forages with corresponding overgrazing. It is therefore recommended that the reserve be renovated with high yielding forage grasses and legumes. Keywords: Dry matter, nutritive value.