Browse tree survey in the Communauté économique des Pays des Grands Lacs (Burundi, Rwanda, Zaire)

Abstract

In a survey of farmers and herdsmen conducted in areas of Burundi, Rwanda and Zaire with large livestock populations, 242 indigenous tree and shrub species from 53 families were cited as being used as fodder by cattle, goats and sheep. All the domesticated ruminants in the survey area consume fodder trees and shrubs at one time or another during the year, depending upon fodder availability and upon their own animal species. The period of greatest consumption was the dry season. Whereas the overall utility of the species was known, the farmers did not attach great importance to their fodder use and so did not managed them as such. The nitrogen content of some selected species was 18.5 and 17.6 % of dry matter in samples collected during the rainy and dry seasons, respectively.