In this era of competition for sustainable livestock production, survival is difficult without improving productivity of livestock. Generally, the farmers do not feed their animals according to their nutritional requirements, which causes overall low productivity of animals in this country.
This was stated by Dr Bashir Ahmad, vice-chancellor, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF), while addressing as chief guest the inaugural session of one-day seminar on 'Role of Strategic Feeding for Enhanced Productivity of Livestock', organised by the 'Institute of Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology' (IAN&FT) in collaboration with Pakistan Veterinary Medical Association, in the new senate hall here on Saturday.
He said that it is the duty of nutritional experts to educate the farmers for feeding their livestock to improve productivity, and added that keeping small number of animals with high producing ability is better than keeping many animals with low productivity. He suggested that ad libitum feeding can exploit the production potential of animals to their full extent and increase the milk yield compared with traditional feeding.
Quoting the example of university farms he said that milk production during February to June 2007, compared with same period in 2006 had increased more than 47 percent due to ad libitum feeding. He suggested that this practice should be exercised at each livestock household level.
The President of Pakistan Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA), Dr Muhammad Arshad, in his address of welcome said that agriculture contributes 32 percent to Gross National Product (GNP), and over 50 percent of foreign exchange earnings whereas livestock sub-sector, as backbone of agriculture, plays a multi faceted role in socio-economic development of rural households.
He said that 65 percent of the rural households own livestock and majority of livestock owning households are small marginal and landless Pakistanis. He said that livestock make a substantial contribution to household food security by providing income, quality food, energy, fertiliser and assets in over 80 percent of rural households in the developing countries.
Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, University of Veterinary and Animal Health (UVAH), Lahore, in his keynote address said that the cost of feed, as percentage of total production cost, accounts for about 50 to 60 percent of ruminant feeding systems, and 65-80 percent in an industrial system. He added that Pakistan is deficient by 40 and 80 percent in forage and concentrate feed. He said that forages always have been an extremely important source of nutrients in livestock feeding.
Dr Muhammad Sarwar, Director, IAN&FT, thanked the guests and highlighted the role of feeding in the productivity of livestock. He said that feed plays the main role in the productivity of livestock and poultry. He added that well nourished animals mature early, produce more and are less prone to diseases and bring more profit to the owners. On the other hand, he said, the underfed animals have reduced growth rate, mature late, produce less and are uneconomic for the owners. He added that generally, the farmers do not feed their animals according to their nutritional requirements, which causes overall low productivity of the animals.
A large number of scientists, nutritionists and experts from all over the country attended the session. Eleven research papers would be presented in two technical sessions and final recommendations would be presented in concluding session. Dr Mehr un Nisa conducted the inaugural session.