Development of crop-animal research methodology for lowland rainfed areas in Pangasinan, Philippines.
1995
Sevilla C.C. | Carangal V.R. | Ranola R.F. Jr.
This paper highlights the objectives, methodology and results of a series of on-farm experiments on crop-animal systems in the rainfed lowland environment. Starting with simple component technology research on rice and upland crops, the cropping pattern at the on-farm site changed from a dominant rice - fallow to a rice - mungbean pattern. Subsequent trials tested the feasibility of intercropping forage legumes with mungbean in the pattern as a source of both nutrients for ruminant production and for green manuring. Among the forage legumes, siratro (Macroptilium atropurpureum) mixed well with mungbean, gave high forage yield, and was more drought-tolerant than other forage legumes. On the animal production side, component studies on feeding systems and draft animal power established the critical periods when nutrients should be supplemented to improve the utilization of rice straw as well as to maintain optimum draft capability of large ruminants. Integrating the rice - mungbean + siratro and results of animal feeding and draft studies, a more complex production sytem, that of combined cow-calf and draft, was designed and is ongoing. Through the years, apart from the economic benefits to farmers and the impact or changes on the farming sytem, the project also demonstrated that the farmers were willing to participate in cooperative research and were able to implement, and evaluate results of experiments.
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