Abstract

This study was conducted in Adami Tullu Jiddo Kombolcha district, Oromia Regional State to assess the major available feed resources in the area and to identify and rank feeding problems and possible improvement options for livestock feeding in the district. Multi-stage sampling techniques were used to select the study sites. Sixty respondents were selected from rural and peri-urban Kebeles. The total annual feed DM available was higher (P < 0.05) in rural (13.98 tons) than in the peri-urban (9.45 tons) kebeles. An average of 11.72 tons of feed dry matter (DM) was produced per household from the major available feed resources, in which 74.57% was obtained from crop residues. A total of 419.4 and 283.5 tones DM/year vs 423.6 and 394.3 tones DM/year was the requirements in rural and peri-urban areas, respectively. Hence, the study indicates that the available feed DM satisfies 99 and 71.9% of DM requirements of rural and peri-urban sites, respectively. The estimated annual DM requirements for maintenance were 13.63 tons with a deficit of 1.91 tons. Feed shortage, water scarcity, disease and low productivity of animals were assessed to be the major livestock production constraints.

Key words: Crop residues, feed availability, feed balance, feed requirement, urban-peri urban.