Introduction

Animal husbandry is an integral component of Indian agriculture supporting livelihood for more than two-thirds of the Indian rural population. Adequate supply of quality feed and fodders is critical for enhancing productivity of dairy animals. However, inadequate feed resource has been one of the major constraints in India; the country is short of dry fodder by 11%, green fodder by 28%, and concentrate feeds by 35% (NIANP 2005). The feed and fodder resources are gradually decreasing throughout India owing to many factors like shrinkage of common property resources and shift towards the cultivation of commercial crops etc. (Biradar and Kumar 2013). In this scenario, quantification of existing feed resources is necessary for the development of efficient feeding strategies and judicious utilization of available feed resources (Ranjhan 1994; Alpha Agritech 1998).

Andhra Pradesh state is one of the 29 Indian states, situated on the south-eastern coast of the country, at a latitude and longitude of 15.9129° N and 79.7400° E, respectively. Geographically, the state of Andhra Pradesh can be divided into two important regions i.e., Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra (Fig.1), though there are 6 Agro-Climatic Zones spreading across 13 districts of AP (Fig.2) (Go.AP 2016b). The state is blessed with highly valuable livestock resources, accounting for 5.85% of the entire country’s livestock population. About 46.45 lakh families in the state are engaged in the livestock sector for their livelihood. The state stands second in egg production (1309.58 crores), fourth in meat production (5.27 LMT) and sixth in milk production (96.56 LMT) in country contributing 8.85% of the state’s Gross Value Added (GVA) during the year 2015-16 (AP. Go. 2016a). The current study was taken up for the assessment of potential livestock and poultry feed resources in the surplus annual rainfall zones of Andhra Pradesh state (keeping district as the smallest unit), and to analyze the existing situation for suggesting suitable interventions to increase the animal productivity in this region.

Fig 1: Rayalaseema and Costal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh State

Fig 2: Agroclimatic Zones of Andhra Pradesh State

Materials and Methods

District wise and year wise crop production and land utilization data of the surplus rainfall zones of Andhra Pradesh state was obtained from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Pradesh, Hyderabad. The district wise latest livestock census data, 2012 was collected from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Government of India (GOI 2012a). District wise milk production was obtained from the Animal Husbandry Department, Govt. of A.P (AP.Go. 2010).

The methodology followed in the study was as suggested by Anandan and Sampath (2012) with slight modifications. Present study used mean values of the last three consecutive years (2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13) crop production data instead of one year to reduce the differences in annual variations (AP. Go. 2011b, 2012, 2013). Feed resources were categorized as green forages, crop residues and concentrates (grains, grain byproducts and oil seed cakes). Availability of green forages was estimated (ISPA, 1997) as per following classifications and assumptions-

1. Cultivated fodder- Fodder grown in the area with an average annual yield of 40 tonnes/ha,
2. Area under Farm bunds- 2.024% of the Gross cropped area, excluding the area under fodder crops with an average annual yield of 5 tonnes/ha,
3. Private primary grazing- Consisting of current fallow land and other fallow lands with an average annual yield of 1.0 tonnes/ha,
4. Public primary grazing-Comprising of permanent pasture, miscellaneous tree crops and cultivated waste with an annual average yield of 1.0 tonnes/ha and
5. Public secondary grazing-Consist of forest area and on assumption that only 50% area was accessible for grazing with an annual yield of 3.0 tonnes/ha.

The contribution of Gross cropped area to the total green fodder availability is obtained by adding the yield from cultivated fodder and area under farm bunds. In case of sugarcane tops, a conversion factor (0.25) was used to calculate the quantity of sugar cane tops available for livestock feeding. As Cassava foliage is often used as fodder source in the region, a conversion factor of 5.66 (On DMB) was utilized to predict the total tapioca foliage used as livestock fodder. Suitable conversion factors on the basis of grain to straw ratios and extraction rates were used to estimate availability of crop residues, grains, grain-byproducts and oil seed cakes from crop production data (Raju et al., 2002; Anandan et al., 2005). Fine straw included straw from paddy, wheat and ragi crops; while coarse straw included straw from coarse cereal crops like jowar, bajra, maize and small millets. Legume straw comprises of crop residues produced from pulses and groundnut (Ramachandra et al., 2007). Conversion factors employed for estimation of crop residues from paddy, ragi, pulses and groundnut were 1.30, 2.00, 1.70 and 2.00, respectively. Yields from greens, crop residues and by-products were estimated on the basis of dry matter (DM) yield assuming 25%, 90% and 90% DM, respectively. Conversion factors used for estimation of oil cakes from groundnut and coconut were 0.7 and 0.0625, respectively. Conversion factor, 0.02 was used for estimation of grains from paddy and wheat. Availability of brans and chunnies were calculated by utilizing 0.08 and 0.03 as conversion factors from paddy and pulses, respectively. Even-though the production is at higher rate in few districts, due to their complete usage in starch and sago production, Cassava tubers are not included in the present study as an animal feed resource. For the purpose of estimating the feed requirement by the livestock, only the ruminant species and improved poultry, which account for the use of major share of feed resources available, were taken into account. Of the total available concentrates in all the districts around 42% have been allocated to the poultry (CLFMA, 2005). It was assumed that each layer on an average consume about 40 kg feed/year and each broiler would consume 3.2 kg with 5 batches of broilers reared per annum (Narahari et al., 2000). The remaining concentrates (58%) in addition to the crop residues and greens are accounted for while estimating the DM availability for the ruminant species. To eliminate constraints of the wide variations in live weight and production among ruminants (cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat) population, they were converted to the standard Ruminant Livestock Unit (RLU) using conversion factors (Ramachandra et al., 2001) as shown in Table 1. The DM requirement of the individual RLU was estimated @ 2% of BW i.e. 7 kg/day (Anandan and Sampath 2012).

The four zones under the study are north costal, Godavari, Krishna and High altitude zones. North Costal Zone includes Srikakulam (SK), Vizianagaram (VZ), and Visakhapatnam (VS) districts; Godavari Zone constitutes East Godavari (EG) and West Godavari (WG) districts; Krishna zone covers Krishna (KR), Guntur (GU) and Prakasam (PR) districts; and High Altitude Zone holds the high altitude and tribal areas of North Costal Zone and East Godavari district of Godavari zone. Unlike the two dry zones, the region under study is prosperous and considered as the granary of South India. For the convenience of present study taking district’s data as a smallest unit, area under high altitude zone in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, and East Godavari districts is incorporated into the North costal and Krishna Zone, respectively.

Table 1: Conversion factors for calculating Ruminant livestock unit

Results and Discussion

Livestock Resources

The data on composition and distribution of livestock species in various districts of the region was presented in Table 2. Cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats and pigs account for 18, 34, 33, 14 and 1%, respectively, of the total region’s population of various livestock species. Among the cattle population, 58 % of the cattle in the region are Indigenous, while the remaining 42 % belongs to crossbred category. North Costal zone possess highest amount of cattle population (54%), followed by Krishna (31%) and Godavari zones (15%) where as Krishna zone comprises higher buffalo population (60%). The humid climate characterizing the region is more suitable for buffaloes than for crossbred cows which are more subjected to climatic stress and diseases. Moreover, the resourceful and paddy cultivation areas like Krishna and Godavari zones are richer in terms of buffalo population (Vandeplas and Squicciarini 2010).

Rearing of sheep is more prominent in the districts of Prakasam and Guntur of Krishna zone, and Visakhapatnam district of North Costal Zone whereas goat production is practiced on a large scale in Visakhapatnam and Guntur along with Prakasam district. In the costal Andhra the share of rainfed area in the net sown area is very high in Prakasam district, accounting for 70.8% followed by Visakhapatnam, Guntur, and Srikakulam districts with their respective percentages being 69.68, 56.79, and 42.11. Similar to the report by Ramachandra et al. (2007), rain fed ecosystems (substantial portion of Krishna and north costal zones) harbor a higher proportion of sheep population. One of the important features is the highest egg production in the state. Poultry production predominantly on large scale commercial level: layers in West Godavari, East Godavari and Krishna districts; and Broilers in West Godavari, Guntur, East Godavari and Krishna.

Table 2: Livestock and poultry population in surplus rainfall Agro-ecological zones of Andhra Pradesh

Feed Resources

Considering the feed resource availability the region possesses overall DM availability of 16.93 million tonnes (Mt) from various feed resources. Mean values of land utilization pattern and potential feed availability from different resources in the region were presented in Table 3 and 4, respectively. Potential feed requirement and availability in terms of DM, Green forage and Dry forage was shown in Table 5.

Table 3: Mean Values of Land Utilization Pattern (‘000 Ha) in Surplus Rainfall Agro-Ecological Zones of Andhra Pradesh

Table 4: Potential Feed Availability from Different Resources in Surplus Rainfall Agro-Ecological Zones of Andhra Pradesh

Table 5: Potential feed requirement and availability for ruminants in surplus rainfall region of Andhra Pradesh

Table 6: Region wise availability of crop residues (‘000 tonnes) in surplus rainfall region of Andhra Pradesh

Table 7: District wise availability of concentrate ingredients (‘000 tonnes) in surplus rainfall region of Andhra Pradesh

Table 8: Contribution of different sources towards total estimated DM availability in surplus rainfall region of Andhra Pradesh

Table 9: Classification of districts as per estimated DM availability

Green Forage

Green forage contributed nearly one tenth (9.83%) to the total DM availability of the region. With regards to green forage DM availability, main portion of greens is contributed from the GCA (40.49%), similar to the scenario at national level (Ramachandra et al., 2001) and in Karnataka state level (Biradar and Kumar 2013). Jowar fodder, maize fodder, napier grass, para grass, pillipesara and jute are the major fodder crops grown in the region (AP. Go. 2011b, 2012, 2013). Contribution of private primary grazing resources to green fodder availability is more in Prakasam, Guntur and Visakhapatnam districts as the area under fallow lands is more in these districts. The contribution of greens from the public primary grazing areas to the total greens availability is 6.0% only. Contribution of public primary grazing resources to green fodder availability is more in Prakasam followed by Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and Krishna districts, since the area under permanent pasture and cultivable waste lands are more in these districts. The contribution of green forage from public secondary grazing resource is as important as that of Gross cropped area, and the former accounts for 39% of the total green forage availability. Costal Andhra region is having Eastern ghats’ rich vegetational belt, that harbors primarily tropical deciduous vegetation. The contribution of forage availability from the public secondary grazing resources is more in Prakasam, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts as the geographical area under forests is more in these districts (Table 3). Cassava foliage contributes about 4.22% of the total green forage availability in the region, predominantly (97%) from the East Godavari district, that has a unique national significance in cultivating Cassava (predominantly H 165 and H 226 varieties) as a commercial crop in 79.5 million hectares.

Except Srikakulam, all districts in the region are surplus in green fodder availability for livestock. Major emphasis should be given for the development of fodder in the district if further growth has to be realized in livestock sector. Suitable interventions need to be made to increase yield of green forage quantitatively and qualitatively. The gradual reduction of grazing lands, common property sources, stagnation of area under fodder crops and stringent grazing policies are resulting in the expanding of gap in supply and requirement of green fodder in the district.

Dry Forage

Region wise availability of crop residue (‘000 tonnes) is presented in Table 6. The availability of dry matter as dry fodder or crop residues is 14.3 mt. Crop residues contributed to 84.4% of total DM supply for livestock in North Andhra region. These findings are in agreement with reports at national level (Ramachandra et al., 2007) and in Karnataka state level (Anandan et al., 2004). However, even within the crop residues the kind of straw available exerts a profound effect on the nutrient availability. Among the crop residues majority are cereal straws (74.2%). Further, paddy straw alone contributes 46.5% of the total crop residue availability in the region. The region has benefitted a lot from productivity enhancing technology in the ‘green revolution’ period (Reddy et al., 2014) and is considered as the ‘‘Bejewelled rice bowl of India” due to the excessive paddy cultivation in Krishna-Godavari twin delta region. Legume straws account for barely 7.5% of total crop residues.

Bajra is very much suitable to cultivate in the low rainfed areas with dry and sandy loam soils having well drainage. Being a drought-prone region, Prakasam district retained about 86% of the total bajra cultivation in the region (Karale et al., 1992). Notably, 66% of the total regions’ Palm press fiber is available in West Godavari district. There is however a considerable regional variation in the dominant type of crop residue: rice and wheat straws in irrigated regions compared to coarse cereal straws and hay from leguminous crops in the drier, semi-arid regions. Similarly, paddy and maize straw availability is high in irrigated areas of the region and coarse cereal straw like sorghum is more in rain fed and less irrigated parts of the region.

Concentrates

District wise availability of concentrate ingredients (‘000 tonnes) in the region under study was presented in Table 7. The total concentrates required for poultry (105 million birds) was 1.74 mt but the total availability itself was 1.08 mt only, which suggested that the region was not self-sufficient in feed resources to take care of the feed requirement of its poultry population, even if all concentrates would be allocated to them. The growth of poultry industry at an exuberant rate in the region could be attributed to the developmental activities taken up the APMPDC (Andhra Pradesh State Meat and Poultry Development Corporation), 1977. Of the available concentrate ingredients in the region, grains, brans & chunnies, and oilseeds account for 25.8, 43.6 and 30.6% respectively. The higher brans & chunnies portion owes to the higher rice bran availability, accounting for 42% of the total accessible concentrates in the region. Moreover, the region is peculiar regarding the availability of palm kernel cake at higher levels, as the region contributes nearly 67% of the total India’s oil palm trees cultivation (NRC 2012). Further, presence of black cotton soils at higher levels (72%) extends the Guntur district to have highest area under cotton cultivation (56%). Furthermore, the climate conditions and red earths in the Prakasam districts are more favorable for growing oil seed crops, especially sunflower, gingelly, and castor crops.

However, it should be observed that the contribution of all other sources except green forages is influenced primarily by crops grown in each district as well as the prevailed cropping intensity. In addition to these production aspects, various social and economic aspects like land, crop and animal ownership patterns, cultural practices, the use of advanced crop varieties and the opportunities for market and nonmarket exchanges also influenced. Hence, the export from other states is significant (Biradar and Kumar, 2013). It may not be obligatory that one ingredient available in particular region or state is essentially utilized by livestock in the same state. This is valid for any feed resource but is more common for concentrate ingredients (Ramachandra et al.,2007). Although there is interstate or inter district movement of feed resources, there is a little information available in this aspect.

Fig 3: Extent of DM availability in districts of surplus rainfall region of Andhra Pradesh State

Classification of Districts in the Region Based on Extent of Estimated DM Availability to the Livestock

The average DM availability per RLU/day for the region as a whole is 7.55 kg with the values ranging from 3.26 in Srikakulam district to 14.2 in West Godavari district (Table 8). Out of the 8 districts of the region, 5 belonged to adequately DM available category, 2 to moderately adequate category and the remaining 1 to deficient category (Fig. 3) with the DM availability ranged from 46.61% in Srikakulam district to 212.16% in West Godavari district (Table 8 and 9). Regarding the zones, Godavari and Krishna zones as a whole were adequate, and North Costal Zone was moderately adequate with a percentage DM availability of 163.40, 120.45 and 63.50, respectively. The Godavari and Krishna, India’s second and fourth largest rivers flowing in the Godavari and Krishna zones, irrigating 0.67 and 0.41 million hectares of farmland respectively, might have contributed to the surplus DM availability in the two zones.

However, on analyzing the situation further in the Prakasam district, it becomes clear that the DM available for feeding of animals in this district may not commensurate with the quantity of milk produced (8,35,000 Mt) from the respective district, as it was having less feed resource availability and comparatively more buffalo population. The prevailing situation is one of low feed availability-high productivity due to a large number of buffaloes, especially graded Murrah buffaloes in this district. It is very apparent that the sustenance of high milk production in this district is possible only through procurement of feed resources either from the neighbouring districts of the state or from outside the state.

In contrast to the above situation, Vizianagaram district presented an entirely different picture. The situation in this district is adequate in feed resource availability (86%) with a lower productivity (3,18,000 Mt). Genetic improvement of dairy cattle and buffaloes should be done with suitable selection procedures and breeding policies. A reorientation of cattle and buffalo breeding policy would be attempted in the district, by utilizing the quality male stock, superior breeding bulls, selective breeding, grading up and cross breeding procedures.

Considering the region as a whole, the available DM (112.05%) is abundant to meet the livestock requirements. The availability of green forages, dry forages, and concentrates is 157.62%, 187.89%, and 18.43%, respectively (Table 5). Although the region is self-sufficient in terms of green and dry forages, it is facing a severe scarcity of concentrates. Exploitation of the non-conventional feed resources efficient usage techniques in livestock production systems is considered to be the best substitute to combat the concentrate scarcity.

Conclusion

Regardless of the abundant dry matter accessibility, an inconceivable gap exists between the demand and supply of concentrate feed ingredients for both poultry and milch animals in the region. Therefore, there is a strong urge for the efficient usage of agro-industrial byproducts and/or non conventional feed resources available in the region, for the successful livestock and poultry sustainability. The region is self-sufficient in terms of dry forage availability though majority of dry forages are nutritionally poor cereal straws. Hence, suitable strategies should be developed for the efficient utilization of existing feed and fodder resources to improve animal productivity in this state.

Acknowledgement

The authors are thankful to the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, and the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad; and Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Government of India for providing necessary data for conducting this study.

References

1. Alpha Agritech. 1998. Survey of Fodder and Feed Resources in Karnataka State. Report submitted to Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Government of Karnataka.
2. Anandan S and Sampath KT. 2012. The Indian feed inventory, retrieved from www.fao.org/docrep/016/13043e/i3043e04.pdf
3. Anandan S, Raju SS, Angadi UB and Ramachandra KS. 2004. Regional variation in the availability of feed resources in Karnataka state – a case study. In: Proceedings of X Animal Nutrition Society of India Conference, January 5-7, 2004, Jabalpur, India, pp. 23-24.
4. Anandan S, Raju SS, Angadi UB and Ramachandra KS. 2005. Status of livestock and feed resources of Malnad region in Karnataka. Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology. 5: 99-105.
5. NRC 2012. National Research centre for Oil Palm (ICAR), Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research, Pedavegi, AndhraPradesh.
6. AP.Go. 2016. 2016b. Agroclimatic zones of Andhra Pradesh. Department of Agricultrue, Government of Andhra Pradesh. http://apagrisnet.gov.in/Official/agroclimatezon.htm
7. AP.Go. 2009-10. 2010. Integrated Sample Survey, Animal Husbandry Department, Govt. of A.P., Shanti Nagar, Hyderabad – 500028.
8. AP.Go. 2010-11. 2011a. Forestry Facts and Figures, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Forest Department. Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad – 500 004, India.
9. AP.Go. 2010-11. 2011b. Season and Crop Report, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Directorate of economics & statistics, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad 500 004.
10. AP.Go. 2011-12. 2012. Season and Crop Report, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Directorate of economics & statistics, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad 500 004.
11. AP.Go. 2012-13. 2013. Season and Crop Report, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Directorate of economics & statistics, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad 500 004.
12. AP.Go. 2015-16. 2016a. Socio-Economic Survey, Planning department. Government of Andhra Pradesh.
13. Biradar N and Kumar V. 2013. Analysis of fodder status in Karnataka. Indian Journal of Animal Science. 83(10): 1078-1083.
14. CLFMA of India. 2005. Livestock industry Report (2005) Compound Livestock Feed Manufacturers Association of India. www.hansel.in/downloads/poultry%20Report.pdf.
15. GOI. 2012. District wise livestock census data – 2012. Department of animal husbandry and dairying & fisheries, Government of India.
16. ISPA (The Indo-Swiss project in Andhra Pradesh) – 1997. Livestock feeding situation in AndhraPradesh – Options for improvement. Indo Swiss Project Andhra Pradesh. Report No. 27 / 97.
17. Karale RL, Rao KVS and Shanware PG. 1992. Study on Landforms and Soils of Krishna-Godavari Delta Using Remote Sensing. Agropedology, 2: 112-116.
18. Narahari D, Asha Rajini R. and Prabaharan R. 2000. Poultry Economics and Projects. 1st edition. India: Muprint & Process. p. 32.
19. NIANP. 2005. Feed Base. National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Animal Physiology, Adugodi, Bangalore – 560 030.
20. Raju SS, Anandan S, Angadi UB, Ananthram K, Prasad CS and Ramachandra KS. 2002. Assessment of animal feed resources availability in Southern Karnataka region. Indian Journal of Animal Science. 72(2): 1059-1063.
21. Ramachandra KS, Taneja VK, Sampath KT, Anandan S and Angadi UB. 2007. Livestock feed resources in different agro ecological zones of India: availability, requirement and their management. National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bangalore, India, pp. 100.
22. Ramachandra KS, Anandan S and Raju SS. 2001. Livestock feed resources availability in India and need for a national data base. In: Proceedings of X Animal Nutrition Conference on Emerging Nutritional Technologies for Sustainable Animal Production and Environmental Protection, November 09-11, 2001, Karnal, India, pp. 134-144.
23. Ranjhan SK. 1994. Consultant’s Report on Availability and Requirement of Feed and Fodder for Livestock and Poultry. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi, India.
24. Ravi Kiran G, Suresh KP, Sampath KT, Giridhar K and Anandan S. 2012. Modeling and Forecasting Livestock and Fish Feed Resources: Requirements and Availability in India, National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Adugodi, Bangalore – 560 030.
25. Reddy AA, Reddy GP, Radhika Rani Ch, Reddy AN, Bantilan C. 2014. Regional Disparities in Rural and Agricultural Development in Undivided Andhra Pradesh, India.
26. Vandeplas A and Squicciarini P. 2010. The dairy sector in Andhrapradesh. LICOS – Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance & Research Group on Development Economics. Faculty of Business and Economics, K.U.Leuven Waaistraat 6 – bus 3511.