Farmers preferences on tree/crop species and livestock feeding -A study through pra approach

The study highilghted that the farmers prefer the different fodder (Top feed), fuel wood and timber species as per their needs. The Dalberzia sissoo followed by Madhuca indica are very common as timber. The fuel wood of Ficus glabrosa and Butea monosperma followed by Hoioptelia integrifolia and Carissa spinarum commonly used by the farmers. The top feed of the species like Albezia lebbeck and Carissa spinarum are mostly preferred to feed the Cows, Buffalo and drought animals.

The most common feeding to animals in this locality is mixing of straw of Wheat, Gram, Barely with green fodder/fresh stalk of Maize, Sorghum, Pearl millet and seasonal green grasses like Dichanthium annulatum and Heteropogon contortus. the cakes of Groundnut Mustard, Castor and Linseed are also mixed while feeding to milch animals. The leaves of locally available species like Zizyphus numularia, Acacia catechu, acacia nilotica, Azadirachta indica, Ficus religiosa, Acacia leucophloea and Carissa spinarum are commonly fed to Goats and Sheep besides grazing. It has also been found that the ITK can help for further refining the research projects as per needs and priorities of the farmers by adopting the Participatory Rural Appraisal approach to improve the livestock production systems.