KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (Bernama) – China’s Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province is replacing grain crops with feed crops by promoting new technologies such as full storage and silage to adjust the planting structure and boost farmers' income.
According to a statement, silage is a fermented fodder made from smashed corn cobs and stalks, which can be stored for one to three years.
The ‘grain crops to feed crops’ trial aims to promote the cultivation of silage corn and turn the harvest of grain into fodder.
Besides cost reduction, the fermented fodder also fatten the cattle and sheep, improving their meat quality. Silage also helps reduce the incidence of intestinal diseases for the animals – another guarantee of the desirable quality of livestock products.
“The nutrient rate of hay is less than five per cent and nutrition rate of another method is about 30 per cent, while the whole-plant silage's nutrition rate can reach 70 per cent,” said deputy dean of Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Prof. He Chungui.
An expansive planting of corn has weighed on planting efficiency, denting farmers' income and resulting in a large accumulation of corn stalks, which wastes resources and affects the rural environment.
Linxia also has a robust animal husbandry industry which is in high demand of abundant quality forage. The inefficient use of corn stalks and the inadequacy of high-quality forage poses an increasingly prominent challenge for the region.
-- BERNAMA
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