Productivity and Quality of Fodder Crops under Late-sown Conditions in Semi-arid Tropics of India

Background: In India, agriculture and animal husbandry are inextricably linked and are essential for livelihood security. Despite the fact that India has the world’s largest livestock population, feed and fodder supply is under huge strain, especially as area accessible for fodder cultivation has been shrinking. During the months of March-May and November-February are known as lean periods of fodder production, the supply of green fodder is limited throughout the year in a rainfed condition. Fodder crops develop swiftly and cover the ground surface quickly, even in low-rainfall conditions, producing a significant amount of green fodder while also providing vegetative cover over the land, resulting in resource conserving  as well as increased productivity. In this context, the current study was conducted to evaluate various fodder crops, assess their productivity and quality and make appropriate recommendations for semi-arid tropics of India.
Methods: Field experiments were carried out for three years from 2015-16 to 2017-18 at the Agricultural Research Station, Ananthapuramu andhra Pradesh, India, which is located between 14°41'N Latitude and 77°40'E Longitude and an altitude of 350 m. above mean sea level, which falls under the Semi-Arid Tropics. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with nine treatments (fodder crops) and three replications. The treatments comprised of different fodder crops viz., fodder sorghum, fodder maize, fodder bajra, clusterbean, fodder cowpea, field bean, brown top millet, horse gram and sunhemp.
Result: The current study concludes that fodder bajra, fodder sorghum and fodder maize are potential forage cereals because they can produce more quantity and quality fodder while also ensuring net monetary returns and fodder cowpea and sunhemp are the next best suitable forage legumes under late-sown conditions in the semi-arid tropics of India.