Friday, March 29, 2024
General Agriculture

Definition and Classification of Pasture Plants

Pasture plants can be defined in many ways depending on purpose: Pasture is defined as an area of land occupied with forage plant species either natural or planted by man for the purpose of providing qualitative feed to livestock at the right quantity;

It could refer to any forage specie valuable as livestock feed; It can also refer to an act of feeding; grazing or browsing animals on pasture plants or pastures.

In general, pasture plants, also known as forage crops, refer to a diverse group of plant species specifically cultivated or naturally occurring in agricultural fields or rangelands. These plants are primarily grown to serve as a nutritional food source for grazing livestock, including cattle, sheep, and goats.

Pasture plants often encompass various grasses, legumes, and other herbaceous species, which are carefully selected and managed to ensure a balanced diet for the animals and maintain the overall health of the grazing ecosystem.

The utilization of appropriate pasture plants is essential for sustainable animal husbandry and plays a vital role in supporting the productivity and well-being of livestock.

Classification of Pasture Plants

Pasture plants can be classified into the following:

1. Grasses: These belong to the family Gramineae. They are characterized by high energy, low crude protein, fast growth rate, and cylindrical stems, and leaves. The leaves have parallel venation patterns and the stem is hollow.

They have a fibrous rooting system with light and small seeds. Other related family members in this family include maize, millet sorghum, barley, and rye.

2. Legumes: These belong to three different families (Mimosoideae, Caesalpinioideae, and Papilionaceae) depending on the nature and shape of their flowers. They have broad leaves with a net venation pattern. They are herbaceous plants with flowers occurring mainly at the terminal buds.

However, it is also possible to have flowers in other parts of the plant such as auxiliary branches. These flowers produce seeds in pods. Examples include Centrosema pascourum, Alysicarpus varginalis, and Mucuna pruriens.

Read Also: How to control Ruminants from destroying Grasses where they graze

3. Grazed Plants: These are short herbs that are consumed with both leaves and stem together. Examples include Brachiaria ruziziensis, Sorghum almum (Columbus grass), Arachis pinto, and Digitaria smutsii.

4. Browed Plants: These are woody plants whose leaves and twigs (soft stems and buds) are eaten while the woody stem is left uneaten. e.g. Leucaena leucocephala, Gliricidia sepium, and Gmelina aborea.

5. Annuals: These are plants that complete their life cycle within one growing season and survive the dry season as seeds. e.g. Chloris gayana, Brachiaria mulato II, Pennisetum purpureum and Hypherrania rufa.

6. Biennials: These are plants that complete their life cycle in two seasons. The first season is for vegetative growth and the second season is for reproductive growth. e.g. Panicum maximum (Elephant grass), Andropogon tectorum (Southern Gamba grass) and Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass).

7. Perennials: These are plants that grow throughout the year for many years producing flowers and seeds without dying such as the Gmelina aborea tree, Ziziphus mauritiana tree, Ficus thonningii tree, and Acacia albida tree.

Definition and Classification of Pasture Plants
Weeds

8. Weeds: These are non-planted plant species that invade an area by themselves. e.g. Sorghum bicolor, Amaranthus spinosis and Tridax procumbens.

In conclusion, pasture and forage crops have unique characteristics that can easily be used to identify them in the field. These morphological differences have a direct effect on the forage yield and quality of the plants. Animals graze the leafy parts of the plants first before other parts are eaten.

This is because the leaves are more palatable and nutritious compared to the stems or branches. Studying the morphological parts of pasture and forage crops will enable us to know how to properly utilize our pasture and forage resources.

Grasses are morphologically divided into fibrous roots and shoots (leaves, stems, and flowers). Legumes are divided into roots, branches, leaves, and flowers

Shrubs are like forage legumes except that they have more woody stems, leaves, and flowers and their height is up to 4 meters.

Read Also: Recommended Pastures for your Livestock Grazing

Read Also: A Beginner’s Guide to Schefflera

Agric4Profits

Benadine Nonye is an agricultural consultant and a writer with over 12 years of professional experience in the agriculture industry. - National Diploma in Agricultural Technology - Bachelor's Degree in Agricultural Science - Master's Degree in Science Education... Visit My Websites On: 1. Agric4Profits.com - Your Comprehensive Practical Agricultural Knowledge and Farmer’s Guide Website! 2. WealthinWastes.com - For Effective Environmental Management through Proper Waste Management and Recycling Practices! Join Me On: Twitter: @benadinenonye - Instagram: benadinenonye - LinkedIn: benadinenonye - YouTube: Agric4Profits TV and WealthInWastes TV - Pinterest: BenadineNonye4u - Facebook: BenadineNonye

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error

Enjoy this post? Please spread the word :)

Discover more from Agric4Profits

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

0
YOUR CART
  • No products in the cart.