Adding more plants to the list of nutritious feeds for livestock

Objectively speaking, Vietnam already has little advantage in the production of grain materials used in animal husbandry, but the almost-complete dependence on imported raw materials has caused the industry to lose its competitiveness, wasting the potential of the development of animal feeds.

Alfalfa - a valuable source of forage

According to the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS), alfalfa is the second highest protein plant after soybean with a protein content of 18-23%. It is a forage suitable for many kinds of livestock specifically dairy and fattening cattle. It is widely used by many countries around the world, mainly processed as valuable feed for poultry and fish.

Alfalfa is a highly cold-tolerant plant suitable to be developed in ecological zones such as the northern mountain land - where livestock are in high demand of nutritious feed in winter. Its average yield ranges from 16 to 20 tons/ha/harvest, or 25 to 30 tons/ha/harvest with intensive farming, and it can be harvested 5 - 6 times per year. This affirms its advantage as a potential animal feed.

A number of alfalfa varieties have been imported, collected and evaluated. Among the 60 samples of alfalfa varieties, the AF1 is selected. The current cultivation technique gives yields exceeding 60 tons/ha/year, and the three promising varieties AF2, AF3, AF4 show good growth ability in consideration of the autumn-winter or winter-spring crop.

But what limits the development of alfalfa in Vietnam is that we have not mastered the domestic seed production as well as the harvesting and post-harvest technology especially the drying technology for long-term preservation.

Wheat and barley - fit for arid lands

Wheat and barley were once grown in the North of our country while having good growth and development, but the area was not large due to farmers’ cultivation level and farming habits.

Wheat and barley are now widely used as a source of starch in animal feed processing and food and beverage making. Every year Vietnam has to import 100% of wheat with approximately 665 thousand tons (2020) only used for food processing purposes.

These two plants have high resistance to cold and drought, suitable for growing in winter crops in the Red River Delta and the Northern Midlands and Mountains to increase adaptability in arid soils and lands suffering from climate change.

With an output of 2.5 - 3.5 tons of grain and 30-40 tons of by-products per ha in cold and drought areas, wheat and barley have the potential to develop as valuable raw materials for animal feed processing, contributing to reducing the pressure due to import from other countries in the world.

Sorghum - superior yield compared to maize

Sorghum has the same cultivation characteristics and requirements as maize but has yields of 2-3 times higher, not to mention its ability to regenerate for the second time. The downside is that it has lower nutrition quality than maize. This plant can also grow well in Vietnam considering our country's climatic conditions.

Sorghum used to be planted scatteredly in the South Central provinces, but its seeds were mainly used to serve poultry raising instead of utilizing biomass for animal feed processing. In the last two years, with the gradual shift to farm-scale husbandry in the South Central provinces, the area planted with sweet sorghum for animal feed has gradually expanded.

It is expected that sorghum will be expanded and developed strongly in the coming time as a source of material for animal feed since the Ministry of Science and Technology has approved a program to research and develop sorghum in Phu Yen in 2021.

Oats - potential for expansion

Oat is also considered a good cold-tolerant plant, capable of growing in the autumn-winter/winter crop in the Red River Delta and the Northern Midlands and Mountains. The yield can reach 45-60 tons/ha, and it can be harvested 2 times per year.

Oats are only grown mainly in Moc Chau (Son La) with a modest scale at the moment, but they can be fully developed and expanded to provide forage in the winter crop in those areas - a very important time in the winter when there is a shortage of forage for livestock.

Nopal cactus - a nutritious plant easy to grow in arid areas

Nopal cactus (genus Opuntia, Cactaceae family) grows well in arid (rainfall below 250 mm/year), semi-arid (precipitation from 250 - 450 mm/year) years), or nutrient-poor soils. It is a plant with many benefits. Its fruit and stem can be used for many different purposes, bringing many practical uses.

In terms of livestock raising, the Nopal cactus stem segments are succulent and rich in minerals and vitamins. They can be used as a fresh ingredient for direct feeding or processed into different types of dry food such as chopped and dried, ground into powder, or silage.

However, research and development of Nopal cactus varieties for use as animal feed are only staying at the level of testing at the moment, not mass development in production.

Some other potential grass varieties

Recently grass varieties such as Mulato II, Ruzi, guinea grass, and para grass are growing in popularity in the South Central provinces, but are still on a small scale and cultivated using semi-intensive methods, so the efficiency is not high. But with the current development of animal husbandry, the planting area of these grasses has begun to expand.

Having the livestock farm structure gradually shifted to the South Central provinces and the Central Highlands, it is prognosticated that the development of these grass varieties will increase sharply in the near future.