Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST) Scholarly Output

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/20.500.14820/7526

This sub-community hosted at SUA brings together conference proceedings and other scholarly outputs and works presented during the Scientific Conferences of the Rangeland Society of Tanzania. It serves as a platform for sharing knowledge and research on healthy rangelands, sustainable livelihoods, natural resource management, pastoral systems, environmental conservation, and economic development.

Browse

Browsing Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST) Scholarly Output by Author "Ephraim J. Mtengeti"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Chemical composition and physical characteristics of standing hay and foggage along the pasture field in Morogoro sub-urban, Tanzania
    (Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST), 2022-12) Venance S. Tarimo; Ephraim J. Mtengeti
    In-situ forage conservation in the form of standing hay is the commonest and cheapest form of natural pasture conservation by most agro-pastoral and pastoral communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Standing hay is over matured and un-harvested pasture (mainly annual grasses). On the other hands, excessively overstays standing hay in the field until the first rain a shower of the next season is referred as foggage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritive value of the standing hay and foggage of natural pastures plot rested for entire wet (growing) and dry periods for nine months until the first rains. Standing hay samples were taken three months before the rains while those of foggage were obtained three weeks after the first rains. Ten samples were taken at random from a standing hay and foggage for determination of botanical and nutritive composition. Standing hay and foggage did not differ significantly (P ≥ 0.05) in terms of dry matter (DM) content (85.9 % vs 83.1 %), Crude protein (3.8 % vs 3.3%), in vitro dry matter digestibility (34 % vs 32 %), metabolizable energy (5.3 vs 5.2 MJ/kg DM). However, standing hay had significantly (P ≤ 0.05) less Neutral Detergent Fiber (80 vs 82 %) and more leaf:stem ratio (2:1 vs 1.4:1) than oggage. In terms of organoleptic test scores standing hay and foggage were not significantly (P ≥ 0.05) in touch and pollution but foggage had significantly ((P≤ 0.05) mouldy appearance and bad smell than standing hay. It can be concluded that tropical natural pastures standing hay and foggage have low nutritive value yet the foggage is very fibrous which can reduce the productivity of grazing animals.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Kongwa weed (astropomoea hyoscyamoides) a threat to some grazing lands in North Eastern Tanzania.
    (Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST), 2022) Ephraim J. Mtengeti
    A short study on the evaluation of the plant structure and seed production of Kongwa Weed (Astropomoea hyoscyamoides) was conducted in Mzeri Hill Ranch in August, 2017. Two transect lines running diagonally were fitted in the grazing field of 2.5 ha. The field was partly established with Cenchrus ciliaris, Chloris gayana and some parts was dominated by natural grasses mainly Cynodon nlemfuensis, Panicum infestum and Urochloa sp. The size of every sampling point was 2 m x 2 m and were 20 m apart along the diagonal line. A total of twelve sampling points was obtained in each diagonal line. In each sampling point only one mature tallest Kongwa weed plant was picked at random. Plant height of the main stem, total branches of the plant, and number of fruits from one of the selected branches were recorded instantly. Total number of branches per plant ranged from 4 – 26, while the height of the main branch ranged from 71 – 203 cm. The fruits per branch ranged from 3 – 275. The weed was not found in areas dominated by Cenchrus ciliaris and Cynodon nlemfuensis grasses unlike for Chloris gayana, Panicum infestum and Urochloa mosambensesis grasses. Since kongwa weed is under Convolvulaceae family whose fruit has 4 seeds, it can be concluded that with favorable environment factors a Kongwa weed plant can produce up to 28, 600 seeds per season. Despite Kongwa weed aggressiveness in terms of seed productivity, as was shown in the current study, certain pasture species such as Cenchrus ciliaris and Cynodon nlemfuensis may reduce its abundance unless they are overgrazed. Further studies on the influence of land use and plant association on the spread of Kongwa weed are recommended.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Vegetation composition and productivity in reserved grazing area of Lubungo village in Mvomero district
    (Rangeland Society of Tanzania (RST), 2022) Tito E. Mdegela,; Ephraim J. Mtengeti; George Msalya
    Most reserved grazing areas within the villages in Tanzania are continuously grazed and are heavily encroached by bushes. An inventory of 8.4ha reserved grazing land resources of Lubungo village in Mvomero District was conducted towards the end of the dry season of 2018, to assess pasture species composition, ground vegetation cover, dry mater yield, tree density and canopy cover The soil physical, chemical and plant seedbank characteristics were also assessed. Line interception method was used to assess pasture species composition and ground cover. From each line interception sampling unit of 10m tape measure, two quadrat frame each 0.25m 2 were thrown at random in left and right side of he sampling unit to sample desirable pastures and soil for determination of the pasture dry matter yield and soil physical and chemical properties. One soil sample at a depth of 5cm and 30cm x 30 cm wide was collected for soil seedbank determination in the bare soil patch around each line interception sampling unit in order to be sure if the grazing land is rested wouldn’t come back with desirable vegetation. Eight parallel lines interception sampling units were fitted in each transect line of 700 m at 70 m interval. Three transect lines 40 m apart were established in the reserved grazing land. The Point Centered Quarter (PCQ) method was used to determine tree density and their canopy caver. The ground cover of desirable pasture, undesirable pasture species, and litter was 67.7 %, 10.5% and 9.4 % respectively. The bare patches covered 12.3 % of the grazing land. The most dominant grass species was Enteropogon macrostachyus followed by Bothriocloa insculpta and Heteropogon contortus. Soil bulk density, pH, organic carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium were 1.4g/cm -3 , 6.3, 1.14%, 0.09%, 0.89 mg/kg and 0.33 g/kg, respectively. A total of 11 dicotyledonous species mainly forbs and 9 monocotyledonous species with only four perennial grasses were revealed from the soil seedbank. Dry matter yield of the desirable pasture was 806.8 kg DM per ha and tree density was 1500/ha with the total canopy cover of 63.49%. The most dominant tree species was Combretum collinum. The vegetation type of the grazing land was therefore Combretum- Enteropogon bushed grassland. From this inventory results it can be concluded that the reserved grazing area had very low pasture productivity, poor soil seedbank and high bush encroachment. In order to improve pasture productivity therefore there is a need of bush clearing and reseeding the reserved Lubungo village grazing land.