Increase livestock production while rehabilitating marginal land
After years of painstaking research, scientists in northern Syria are on the verge of developing a practical solution to an increasingly grim environmental problem in West Asia and North Africa. Led by Pasture Ecologist Dr Ahmed Osman, researchers at the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) based in Aleppo, Syria have succeeded in developing a system of pasture and livestock management that will increase livestock production while rehabilitating land not suitable for
cultivation and threatened by degeneration and eventual desertification.The solution worked out by Dr Osman and his colleagues involves stimulating the growth of pasture legumes--plants native to much of the region--along with modest quantities of phosphorus fertilizer.
The phosphorus (P) stimulates the legumes which, in turn, extract nitrogen (N) from the atmosphere and deposit it in the soil. This way they act like miniature fertilizer plants, and stimulate the growth of grasses. This makes up for the inadequate P and N in the region's soils. ICARDA's Dr. Ahmed Osman is confident his research could significantly increase grassland productivity and help reduce soil erosion.
The result is a much greater supply of both grass and legumes for livestock, even in dry years. Increased vegetation also means the return of more organic material to the soil, thereby repairing the damage caused by years of overgrazing.
The scientists at ICARDA have found that, much like the experience of countries such as Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, livestock production on the experimental plots was several times greater than on untreated control fields.
They found that legume production increased by as much as three times when phosphorus fertilizer was used. The researchers were even more excited to discover that by the trial's fifth season the number of seeds in the soil had increased six-fold.
Not only that: rainuse efficiency, essential where rainfall is low, was more than double that in the control plots. According to Dr Osman, the conditions for application of these results exist, and therefore the system promises to significantly increase grassland productivity in the region. It will also help reduce soil erosion.The problem of marginal land degradation is not a recent one, but it has become much more widespread as both livestock and human populations have increased.
ICARDA researchers estimate that the marginal lands of Syria were richer in trees, shrubs, and grasses before the advent of civilization. A small number of sheep and goats roamed widely, allowing natural vegetation to annually produce more than 1,000 kilograms of herbage per hectare. As the human population increased, trees and shrubs were cut down to provide building materials and fuel, and sheep and goats grazed the remaining grasses and herbs. Dr. Osman and his team believe that this new technique of rangeland management is ready for introduction on a wide scale around the region.
(ICARDA news release)