Abstract
The extent to which animals are dependent on shrubs and trees for fodder is probably not fully realized by those accustomed to associate grazing with true grass or grass–legume pastures, ranges or steppes. The information, however, provided in Joint Publication No. 10, “The Use and Misuse of Shrubs and Trees as Fodder”, published by three of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux (Pastures and Field Crops, Forestry, and Animal Nutrition, respectively) leaves no doubt as to the magnitude of the subject. Over large areas, particularly those with semi-arid climates, in Australia, Africa, India, the U.S.S.R., United States of America and lands in the Mediterranean region, woody plants provide the chief source of food for the numerous low-grade animals kept for the wool, hides and even meat they produce. Most of these regions suffer from gross over-stocking, with a resultant deterioration in the vegetative cover, which in its turn gives rise to serious soil erosion. The problems are numerous, and their solution by no means similar in different parts of the world; but the breeding of better-class animals and a reduction in their numbers should both check the soil erosion and make it economically advantageous to grow improved types of fodder. The best type of management of shrub-tree associations has yet to be found. Experiences with restricted seasonal grazing, reclamation work by re-seeding, and direct shrub cultivation are described and the problems of forest grazing discussed. Bush encroachment on grazing land offers serious difficulty in some countries, and various control measures are being tried for the eradication of undesirable species. As regards nutritive value, the chemical composition and digestibility of some thousand samples of shrubs and trees are tabulated; it is significant that, compared with grassland, the values fluctuate little with season, so that they are of special value in times of drought when indigenous grasses are at their lowest nutritive level. The publication, which contains seventy illustrations, can be obtained from the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux, Central Sales Branch, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Great Britain (9s. net).
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Trees and Shrubs as Animal Fodder. Nature 160, 862 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160862a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160862a0