Page 94 - Agroforestry system - book inner (final corrected) - 9.-3-21_Neat

National level e-symposium on “Agroforestry system for augmenting livestock
productivity and empowering resource poor rural farmers”

Materials and Methods

The experiment was conducted during the year 2015 as a part of All India Co-ordinated Research
Project on Agroforestry functioning at Institute of Animal Nutrition, Kattupakkam. Sesbania grandiflora was
integrated with brinjal and tomato in an agrisilviculture model. Fifty cents of land was allocated for this
experiment. It was divided into two equal blocks of 25 cents each. Seeds of Sesbania grandiflora were sown
at 15 cm spacing in the boundaries of these blocks. Brinjal (Variety – Ujala) and tomato (Variety – PKM 3)
was cultivated in the respective blocks at spacing of 60 x 45 cm.

Vegetables / Fodder was harvested at different places of one square meter area in each experimental plot
and the weight of fresh fodder biomass was measured using digital electronic weighing balance and sampling
for estimation of proximate composition was done (AOAC, 2000). An experiment was conducted in crossbred
cows on fourth month of lactation with supplementation of Sesbania grandiflora tree fodder (2 kg daily) apart
from grazing for a period of 30 days to assess the milking potential.
Results and Discussion

The growth parameters for Sesbania grandiflora after four months of sowing was recorded and is
presented in table 1.
Table 1. Growth parameters Sesbania grandiflora

Sesbania grandiflora+ Sesbania grandiflora+
Parameters
Brinjal Tomata
Fodder height (m) 1.94±0.16 1.82±0.18
Leaf + stem weight (kg) 0.32±0.01 0.31±0.01
Leaf weight (kg) 0.19±0.00 0.18±0.01

Stem weight (kg) 0.14±0.01 0.14±0.01
Leaf : stem ratio 1.44±0.14 1.51±0.28

Biomass yield (MT/ha) 0.30 0.29

The proximate composition of Sesbania grandiflora used in the experiment revealed moisture, crude
protein, crude fibre, ether extract, total ash and NFE of 78.57, 19.80, 15.17, 5.28, 7.34 and 52.41 %, respectively.
Feeding of Sesbania grandiflora resulted in increase in milk yield (270 ml/day) and milk fat (0.13%).
The increase in milk yield could be due to additional protein in the diet of cows. Thus Sesbania grandiflora
can be an effective supplement to the dairy animals maintained on grazing and paddy straw.

Conclusion

From the study it is concluded that, Sesbania grandiflora was integrated with brinjal and tomato in an
agrisilviculture model. The biomass yield of Sesbania grandiflora was 0.29 to 0.30 MT / ha, no significant
variation in yield was documented when Sesbania grandiflora was either integrated with brinjal or tomato.
Supplementation of Sesbania grandiflora fodder to milch cows apart from grazing found that Sesbania

Institute of Animal Nutrition, Centre for Animal Production Studies, TANUVAS
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development 75