Optimizing Food and Feed in Maize–Livestock Systems in Northern Ghana: The Effect of Maize Leaf Stripping on Grain Yield and Leaf Fodder Quality

Nurudeen Abdul Rahman, Asamoah Larbi, Weseh Addah, Kassim Wachiebine Sulleyman, Joshua Kubasari Adda, Fred Kizito and Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon
Additional contact information
Nurudeen Abdul Rahman: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Tamale P.O. Box TL 06, Ghana
Asamoah Larbi: Agriculture and Food Security, Anaheim, CA 92804, USA
Weseh Addah: Department of Animal Science, University for Development Studies, Tamale P.O. Box TL 1882, Ghana
Kassim Wachiebine Sulleyman: Department of Animal Science, University for Development Studies, Tamale P.O. Box TL 1882, Ghana
Joshua Kubasari Adda: Department of Animal Science, University for Development Studies, Tamale P.O. Box TL 1882, Ghana
Fred Kizito: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Tamale P.O. Box TL 06, Ghana
Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan 5320, Nigeria

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: Access to feed for livestock during the cropping season is a constraint to the smallholder crop–livestock farming system in northern Ghana due to backyard farming. A two-year (2017–2018) study was conducted to determine the effect of leaf stripping on yield and feed quality in maize–livestock farming systems in the Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions of Ghana. A factorial treatment combination of three maize-maturity types (extra-early: Abontem, early: Omankwa, and medium: Obatanpa) and three leaf stripping methods (control, leaf stripping at 50% tasseling, and leaf stripping at 50% silking of maize) were laid out in a strip-plot design with four replications per region. Stripped leaf biomass, grain yield, stover, cob size, and nutritional quality of stripped maize leaf were measured. The stripped leaf biomass, stover, and cob width of Obatanpa increased significantly relative to the other maize types in the Northern and the Upper West regions. Abontem recorded a higher ( p < 0.01) grain yield than that of the other maize types in the Upper East Region. Leaf stripping had no significant effect on the grain yield and the crude protein (CP) content of maize leaf. The CP of the maize leaf (93–100 g/kg) was above the minimum CP requirement of a quality feed for body weight maintenance of ruminants. This suggests that smallholder maize–livestock farmers could strip maize leaves at either tasseling or silking to feed their livestock during the cropping season in northern Ghana and similar agro-ecological zones in West Africa.

Keywords: feed quality; grain yield; leaf stripping; maize; savanna (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/2/275/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/2/275/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:2:p:275-:d:749978

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().