scholarly journals Feed biomass production may not be sufficient to support emerging livestock demand: Model projections to 2050 in Southern Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolapo Enahoro ◽  
Jason Sircely ◽  
Randall B. Boone ◽  
Stephen Oloo ◽  
Adam M. Komarek ◽  
...  

The demand for livestock-derived foods has steadily grown over the past decades and rising incomes and human populations are expected to see demand further increase. It is unclear if current livestock feed resources are adequately prepared to meet future demand especially given the looming challenges of climate change. Many feeds such as grasses, crop by-products, and other biomass may not be widely grown commercially or sold in formal markets but are critical sources of livestock feed in many low-resource settings in which ruminant livestock production is important. The availability of these feed types can determine the extent to which the livestock sector can expand to meet growing, and sometimes critical, demand for animal-source foods. In this paper, we compare country-level projections of livestock demand from a global economic model to simulated data on feed biomass production. Our comparisons account separately for beef, lamb, and dairy demand. The data allow us to assess the future sufficiency of key sources of feed biomass, and hence aspects of the expansion capacity of livestock production in selected countries in Southern Africa. Our simulation results project that given the interacting effects of projected climate change and changes in income and population in the region, there will not be enough feed biomass produced domestically to meet growing demand for livestock products. For three types of feed biomass (feed crops including grains, grasses, and crop by-products) for which future livestock feed sufficiency was examined, our results showed feed sufficiency declines for all three feed types in Malawi and Mozambique, for two out of three in South Africa and for one of three in Zambia, under intermediate and extreme scenarios of climate change in 2050. Our results suggest an urgent need to improve feed biomass productivity to support future supply of animal protein in the study countries.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-455
Author(s):  
Ateng Supriyatna ◽  
Opik Taufik Kurrahman ◽  
Tri Cahyanto ◽  
Astri Yuliawati ◽  
Yuni Kulsum

Black Soldier fly larvae is an insect capable to convert organic waste into body biomass. The purpose of this research was to determine the productivity, mass balance of the consumption process, and content of protein and fat of prepupa which has a potency as a livestock feed. This research used 6-day-old larvae, they were fed with cassava skin that has been smoothed with a variety of feeding doses: 12.5; 25; 50; 100; and 200 (mg / larvae / day) with ratio of feed and water 2: 1. The results showed that the feeding of 200 mg / larva / day produced the best larval growth with biomass productivity of 1.54 mg / day, residue yielded of 67.1 mg / day. The organic waste was convertion into larvae biomass. In this study, approximately consumption process scale is feed successfully converted to biomass 2.77%, metabolism 6.98%, and 90.24% residue. Protein content is 25.7%. It can be concluded that the larvae are able to convert organic waste into high protein biomass and potentially being used as a livestock feed. This research acts a model to predict mass balance of substrates for feed. The benefit of this research is the science approach used in this study that can be used as a reference by researchers and the community to determine the biomass production of an organism.


Author(s):  
Karen J. Esler ◽  
Anna L. Jacobsen ◽  
R. Brandon Pratt

Extensive habitat loss and habitat conversion has occurred across all mediterranean-type climate (MTC) regions, driven by increasing human populations who have converted large tracts of land to production, transport, and residential use (land-use, land-cover change) while simultaneously introducing novel forms of disturbance to natural landscapes. Remaining habitat, often fragmented and in isolated or remote (mountainous) areas, is threatened and degraded by altered fire regimes, introduction of invasive species, nutrient enrichment, and climate change. The types and impacts of these threats vary across MTC regions, but overall these drivers of change show little signs of abatement and many have the potential to interact with MTC region natural systems in complex ways.


Author(s):  
Chaonan Zhao ◽  
Hanbing Zhang ◽  
Man Wang ◽  
Hong Jiang ◽  
Jian Peng ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Iulian Constantin Dănilă

Short rotation forestry (SRF) provides an important supply of biomass for investors in this area. In the NE (North-East) part of Romania at the present time are installed over 800 Ha of this kind of crops. The SRF enjoys the support through environmental policies, in relation to climate change and the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. A precise estimate of biomass production is necessary for the sustainable planning of forest resources and for the exchange of energy in ecosystems. The use of the terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) in estimating the production of above ground wood biomass (AGWB) of short rotation forestry (SRF) brings an important technological leap among indirect (non-destructive) methods. TLS technology is justified when destructive methods become difficult to implement, and allometric equations do not provide accurate information. The main purpose of the research is to estimate the biomass productivity on tree parts in short rotation forestry with TLS technology. Measuring the hybrid poplars crops by TLS may have the following consequences: (1) Higher accuracy of the estimate of biomass production in the SRF; (2) cost and time effective measurements over the biomass of tree parts; (3) new and validated allometric equations for SRF in NE Romania; (4) solid instrument for industry to estimate biomass. TLS technology gives accurate estimates for DBH, tree height and location, as much as the volume on segments, commercial volume or crown volume can be determined. The accuracy of these values depends on the original scan data and their co-registration. The research will contribute to the development of knowledge in the field of hybrid crops.


2016 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 556-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Fant ◽  
C. Adam Schlosser ◽  
Kenneth Strzepek

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Mathieson ◽  
Federico Abascal ◽  
Lasse Vinner ◽  
Pontus Skoglund ◽  
Cristina Pomilla ◽  
...  

Abstract Baboons are one of the most abundant large nonhuman primates and are widely studied in biomedical, behavioral, and anthropological research. Despite this, our knowledge of their evolutionary and demographic history remains incomplete. Here, we report a 0.9-fold coverage genome sequence from a 5800-year-old baboon from the site of Ha Makotoko in Lesotho. The ancient baboon is closely related to present-day Papio ursinus individuals from southern Africa—indicating a high degree of continuity in the southern African baboon population. This level of population continuity is rare in recent human populations but may provide a good model for the evolution of Homo and other large primates over similar timespans in structured populations throughout Africa.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document