**1. Introduction**

Seasonal shortages in feed supply are major constraints to increasing ruminant productivity in developing countries. Small ruminant feeding and nutrition research should therefore be tailored in line with climate resilient agriculture and farming systems. The calamity of

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

climate change should be converted into an opportunity for developing and spreading climate resilient small ruminant farming and production systems. Natural pastures, crop residues and indigenous fodder trees are the main feed resources for ruminant livestock. But, due to seasonal fluctuations in the availability and quality of these feed resources, intake of energy, protein and some essential minerals by most ruminant species fall below their maintenance requirements resulting in 'under-nutrition' and low productivity in most animal production systems [1]. The leftover natural pastures, particularly the abundantly grown monsoon grasses/herbages that get matured (lignified) and dried have limited intake and characterized by low nutritive value, digestibility and utilization. In dealing with the rainy season crop harvest, and due to the difficulties in hay storage, ensiling is considered as one of the preferable preservation techniques especially with the greatest potential for proteinrich foliage.

climatic environment and to analyze them in order to design modifications of nutritional and environmental management, thereby improving animal comfort and performance. In many countries, there is a scarcity of forage for ruminants feeding because of climatic conditions and shortage of water resources. The success of small ruminant rearing mostly depends on congenial macro- and micro-environments and the effectiveness of the ameliorating measures taken to reduce the stress factors. Adapting to climate change and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may require significant changes in production technology and farming systems that could affect productivity. Globally, livestock contribute to 18% of the human-

over land (31%) [3]. One of the best ways of mitigating enteric methane emission could be improvement of the feed and forage of the ruminant animals to enhance the feed-conversion

Ensilage of forage crops has been practiced in one form or another for more than 3000 years. Several technical advances in silage making, such as multiple application of forage harvester, rapid and efficient silo packing, effective exclusion of air from silos, control of undesirable bacteria and use of silage additives (e.g. formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, sodium hydroxide, sodium acrylate, urea, formic acid, etc.), and their application have expanded production and application of silage in livestock feeding. Emphasis has also been given on its qualitative enhancement due to increase in its usage in dairy and other ruminants. Ensiling forage enables preservation of succulent nature besides converting it to a form considered more utilizable by the ruminant livestock. Good silage is light brown in color, has a sour taste and pleasant acidic smell due to its lactic acid content, which make the product stable and can be kept for 6 months to 1 year, if required. This technology can be practiced round the year as and when any surplus plant biomass is available and yield better quality conserved forage to

Ideally, crops for silage are harvested at right stage, i.e. at 50% flowering, and then chopped into 2–5 cm pieces and left for wilting if needed to have moisture content not more than 60%. It is important to note that the influence of forage characteristics (epiphytic lactic acid bacteria (LAB), buffer capacity and sugar: buffer capacity ratio) on treatment effectiveness varied with DM content. Any additives (molasses, probiotic culture, etc.) can be added and mixed uniformly by spreading the chopped materials on a pucca (concrete) floor or polythene (plastic) sheet and then transferred to polythene lined silo pit (**Figure 1**) or plastic bags (**Figure 2**)/ drums (**Figure 3**) and compressed tightly in order to make it air free. It is kept anaerobically away from direct sunlight under the shade for 55–60 days under anaerobic condition. To make good quality silage, one must have quality assessment of the plant, microbial and environmental factors that influence the fermentation process and, ultimately, the nutrient value of the silage. It is essential to harvest forage at the right time, from the point of view of nutritional

) produced by

13

) by uses of land due to decomposition

O) due to spreading of manure and slurry

Silage for Climate Resilient Small Ruminant Production http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.74667

generated greenhouse gases, and the main components include methane (CH4

the belching of animals (25%), carbon dioxide (CO<sup>2</sup>

efficiencies in the production of a unit of milk or meat.

of organic substances (32%) and nitrous oxide (N<sup>2</sup>

**3. Silage making**

feed during scarcity.

Silage making is an effective and common method of forage preservation and also a form of treatment to occasionally retrieve the underutilized pastures for better acceptability, degradability and utilization. It is universally agreed that silage making is one of the principal approaches if feed and nutrition is to be ensured round the year. In the rainy season, there is an abundance of grass, while it becomes scarce in the dry season, and therefore, silage production in the tropics has been established as a sustainable means of supplementing feed for ruminants in the dry scarcity periods. Maize is observed to be the major crop for silage making, but as the demand for maize/corn outpaces its production due to current changes in global energy system for the production of biodiesel, coupled with increasing competition between animals and humans for this major food/feed item; it has become imperative to research into suitable, or even better, alternatives to this conventional crop for silage making. Low cost unconventional plant biomass offering promising nutrients may serve as an alternative, because of changing climatic conditions and lack of opportunity to cultivate fodder due to shortage of water resources. Hence, the perennial forage surplus obtained when the weather is favorable is recommended for storage as silage in order to meet the animal requirements throughout the year [2]. Alternate forage resources (browses and tree forages, field and crop wastes), succulent plant biomass (roots and tubers, cactus, fruits and vegetables co-products/wastes) and conceptualization of legume silage, mixed silage, total mixed ration (TMR) silage and their application would certainly expand the forage resource base and feed banking for ensuring nutritional input.
