CIAT offers Cratylia seed to cattle farmers
A Shrub Legume that Can Feed Cattle during Periods of Drought
During the dry season cattle farmers face many problems to
feed their livestock. To help livestock owners, the Centro
Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) is providing
seed of Cratylia, a drought-resistant legume of high nutritional
value to livestock.
In some livestock-producing areas of Colombia-especially
in the Eastern Plains and the Atlantic Coast—the dry
season severely affects forage availability in pastures. The
protein content of grasses in the pasture is very low making
cattle lose weight and reduce milk production.
To counteract the low quantity and quality of forage in their
pastures, cattle farmers have to buy expensive concentrates
as supplements. As a result profits in the traditional dual-purpose
livestock system (milk-meat) decline considerably during the
dry season.
Tropical forage specialists at CIAT and the Colombian Corporation
of Agricultural Research (CORPOICA)
searched for alternative fodder options for cattle during
the dry season. They discovered Cratylia (Cratylia argentea),
officially released in Colombia by CORPOICA as 'Veranera',
to be an important alternative to feed livestock in the dry
season. Cratylia is a shrub legume, native to South America
and rich in protein. It characteristically adapts to a broad
range of soils, mostly acid and of low fertility and is well
adapted to long dry seasons.
This legume was evaluated by CIAT researchers in the Llanos
Piedmont, with financial support from the Ministry of Agriculture
of Colombia. Farmers in the Llanos Piedmont tested the plant
with excellent results in both cattle fattening and milk production.
The farmers verified that animals supplemented with Cratylia
during the dry season did not lose weight and maintained their
milk production.
Cratylia is particularly useful in the Atlantic Coast of
Colombia, a cattle-producing region with prolonged dry periods.
Cratylia can be used in different forms. In cut and carry
systems in which the forage is supplemented while milking
cows, or directly grazed by cows after milking. Direct grazing
has proved more economical because of labor savings over the
cut-and-carry system.
"We are ready for the dry season; we have sufficient
seed to supply farmer demand in Colombia", said Aristipo
Betancourt of the Forage Seeds Unit at CIAT.
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