Research on to develop new fodder

posted on 15/01/2012: 133 views

In a move to develop indigenous salinity–resistant fodder, the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) has embarked on a new research project in association with the UAE University's Faculty of Food and Agriculture.

As part of the project, around 150 gene types of wild plants that grow naturally in the UAE with varying degrees of salinity will be studied in comparison to the Rhodes grass.

The move is part of the authority's efforts to support food security policies in the emirate and aims at assessing the production and nutritional value of a number of feed crops that could substitute the recently banned Rhodes grass, which is a highly water-intensive crop.

The growth and production of these plants in three levels of water salinity will be assessed and the one that proves more resistant to salinity will be recommended to the farmers. Subsequently, their palatability for the cattle and impact on the health of the cattle will also be assessed.

Saeed Jasim Mohammed, acting Director of Communication and Community Service at the ADFCA, said that the authority's research and development division had embarked on this project in order to identify indigenous crops that withstand the climatic and other conditions specific to the country.

"This will help us produce salinity-resistant fodders which will result in reduction in the consumption of ground water for feed production. The partnership with the Faculty of Food and Agriculture is to take advantage of its long-standing expertise in studies and research of this kind,” Mohammed said.

He said that the project is an ambitious one aimed at utilising the farming lands with a high level of salinity in the best way and increasing agricultural income. "The result of this project will allow us to use crops cultivated in hard conditions not conducive to growth. Depletion of fresh water has become a major hurdle to sustainable farming in the country, a problem compounded by wrongful grazing of cattle, which led to massive destruction of useful local fodders,” he added. Mohammed pointed out that the cultivation of water-intensive crops like Rhodes and clover had resulted in massive depletion and salinity of ground water, necessitating suitable alternatives for feed crops that meet the needs of the farmers.

The three-year long project, for which the preliminary work and technical studies have already been completed, will comprise experiments in the Research and Development Division's labs in Bani Yas and Al Salamat Research Station and the execution of the experiments about animal growth at the farm of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture in Sweihan in the emirate. – Khaleej Times

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