Acacia Species for Food Security and Environmental Rehabilitation in the Dryland Areas of Northern Ethiopia
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ACACIA SPECIES FOR FOOD SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL REHABILITATION IN THE DRYLAND AREAS OF NORTHERN ETHIOPIA Proceedings of an International Conference 7-8 March 2014 Axum Hotel, Mekelle, Tigray Region, Ethiopia Organized by: Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), World Vision Australia and World Vision Ethiopia Edited by N Hagazi1, F Bongers2 and R Kelly3 1 World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2 Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands 3 World Vision Australia, Melbourne, Australia Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................ ii PREFACE ..................................................................................................................................................... ii WELCOMING ADDRESSES ...................................................................................................................... 1 OPENING SPEECH ..................................................................................................................................... 3 KEY NOTE ADDRESS ............................................................................................................................... 5 SECTION A: USE OF ACACIA SALIGNA IN AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS ....................................... 10 The potential for Acacia saligna agroforestry farming systems in Tigray, Ethiopia .................................. 10 Introduction and evaluation of Acacia saligna trees as backyard agroforestry system in eastern Tigray .. 23 Awareness of Acacia saligna importance, and socioeconomic and livelihood conditions of farm households in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia ....................................................................................................... 26 Acacia saligna in Chile: a forage resource with potential for human functional foods .............................. 36 Population distribution and structure of Acacia saligna trees in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia ......................... 43 Flowering season and seed yield of Acacia saligna in Tigray, Ethiopia .................................................... 50 SECTION B: NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF ACACIA SALIGNA LEAVES .............................................. 53 Evaluation of the nutritional quality of different botanical fractions of Acacia saligna as potential ruminant feed in northern Ethiopia ............................................................................................................. 53 Effect of feeding treated Acacia saligna (Labill.) H.L. Wendl. leaves on chemical composition, growth performance and digestibility in goats ........................................................................................................ 57 Body weight change and carcass characteristics of Abergelle goats supplemented with treated Acacia saligna leaves .............................................................................................................................................. 66 Utilization of wheat bran and dried Acacia saligna leaves by highland rams ............................................ 73 Farmer-based feeding of dried Acacia saligna leaves for sheep fattening ................................................. 80 Effect of Acacia saligna leaves on milk and milk composition of dairy cows ......................................... 106 SECTION C: NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF ACACIA SALIGNA SEEDS ............................................... 114 Effect of soaking and roasting on Acacia saligna seed ............................................................................. 114 A sub-acute Acacia seed feeding trial investigating Acacia saligna, Acacia torulosa and Acacia colei.. 120 Effect of feeding whole Acacia saligna seed meal on broilers ................................................................. 128 SECTION D: VALUE OF ACACIA SALIGNA IN BEEKEEPING SYSTEMS ...................................... 136 Acacia saligna effects on beekeeping and the importance of bees to seed yield and quality ................... 136 Effect of Acacia saligna on honeybee health and honey quality .............................................................. 141 Annex 1: List of Project Members and Participants ................................................................................. 145 Annex 2: Number of conference participants with their respected organizations .................................... 146 Annex 3: Concluding Remarks by Eight Panelists ................................................................................... 147 Annex 4: Closing remarks by World Vision Australia and Tigray BoARD delegate .............................. 149 i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The editors wish to acknowledge the support of Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO- WOTRO) for financial support through the project W08.270.321 which enabled them, and the proceedings’ authors, to complete the compilation of full papers that were presented at the 2014 International Acacia Conference in Mekelle, Ethiopia. PREFACE Niguse Hagazi Director for Natural Resources Research Directorate, Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), Mekelle, Ethiopia The Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) has been implementing a World Vision Australia funded project in collaboration with World Vision Ethiopia and other national and regional partners. The Project entitled “Acacia Species for Food Security and Environmental Rehabilitation in the dryland areas of northern Ethiopia” has been implemented since March 2010 mainly in three districts of the eastern zone of Tigray Region, namely Kilte-Awlaelo, Saese Tsaeda-Emba and Atsbi-Wenberta to contribute to the efforts underway to improve food security and environmental rehabilitation situation in the dryland areas of northern Ethiopia. The project objectives were mainly to address the impact and role of Australian Acacias in general and Acacia saligna in particular for rehabilitation of degraded drylands, food and feed security as well building capacity and creating awareness on Acacia saligna socio- economic and environmental impacts including its multi-service functions and benefits. Acacia saligna was introduced to northern Ethiopia for environmental rehabilitation purposes in 1980s and planted extensively since 2000 in many degraded areas of the region. The species was considered as most important only for environmental rehabilitation as it can grow fast in drought prone, moisture stressed and degraded areas, and produce high biomass where it can also create good microclimate in many of the hillsides, exclosures and rural institutions. However, since the inception of this project, many investigations have been done and being recognized as a multipurpose tree species and demonstrated its future potential ability for food security, agroforestry development and also enabling the community to adapt the changing climate. In addition to this, gaps have identified which needs further investigation and evidence. Based on the project’s research outputs and other countries experiences, TARI in collaboration World Vision organized this international conference with the following major objectives: 1. To share and review research outputs of Acacia saligna tree and set modalities of scaling up for good results that can contribute to the socioeconomic and environmental benefits and services as well as identifying gaps and challenges that required further research and improvement measures, 2. To exchange knowledge and share experiences on the contribution of Australian Acacia species to the efforts underway to improve food and feed security and adapt to the changing climate, 3. To facilitate and strengthen the collaboration between governmental and non-governmental organizations for the completion of Acacia seed food safety and human volunteer trials in a way to address all the safety procedures for its use as a human food in the future, 4. To synthesize ideas that can help in formulating the second phase of the project to complete the ongoing and remaining research activities of the project and scale up of successful findings, 5. To publish the results to reach a wider audience and create networking in order to use the research outputs as well as doing further research and development activities. ii With this brief conference objectives, on behalf of myself as a project coordinator, the natural resources directorates of TARI, World Vision Ethiopia, and the Acacia project team members’ including from World Vision Australia, I would like to express my in-depth appreciation and acknowledgment to the following organizations and individuals who contribute in one way or the other. - World Vision Australia for providing funding and technical backstopping through its highly experienced experts and consultants, - The community particularly the Farmers Research Group (FRG) members involved in the project implementing activities, - The offices of agriculture in each project implementing districts including Saese Tsaeda-Emba, Kilte-Awlaelo and Atsbi-Wenberta, the Regional Bureau of Agriculture and Rural development (BoARD) and the TARI management for their overall facilitation and support during project proposal writing and implementation, - The Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, Ethiopian Food, Medicine and Health care Administrative & Control Authority, Drug Quality Control and Toxicology Laboratory Department and Melbourne University for their active involvement in research