The term forage means the plants used for feeding domestic animals,
this includes both fodder plants and pasture plants. Forage crops have
served as an important source of feed of domestic animals for a long
period, although the history of their use is shorter than that of the
use of native forages. Nearly 200 plant species have been known as
forage crops. The most commonly used forage plant species are bluegrass,
timothy, brome grass, fescues, red clover, white clover and alfalfa.
Alfalfa continues to grow in popularity because of its high quality, but
its production is limited to only the better soil types. Corn grown for
silage is increasing in popularity as forage on many dairy farms.
Agriculture and animal husbandry in India are interwoven with the
intricate fabric of the society in cultural, religious and economical
ways as mixed farming and livestock rearing forms an integral part of
rural living. The benefit of forage crops to humans, however, is not
limited only to livestock production. They also contribute to food crop
production and many other aspects of human life through the following:
(a) soil conservation and amelioration; (b) landscape and wildlife
conservation; (c) improvement and protection of the environment from
pollution; (d) reclamation, revegetation and ecological repair of
degraded land; (e) outdoor recreation and pleasure; (f) potential
conversion of biomass to energy; (g) sources of fiber for the
manufacture of paper and building materials; (h) sources of extracts
for high-quality proteins and medical and pharmaceutical products.
The history of forage crops can be traced back to about 1300 BC when
alfalfa was cultivated in Turkey. Relatively widespread use of forage
crops, however, appeared much later, around the beginning of the
Christian era, when several species were cultivated in several areas of
the world, mainly in the Mediterranean region of Europe. Little happened
between the fifth and twelfth centuries, but the thirteenth to
nineteenth centuries saw great advances in forage crops. They
contributed to the development of mixed farming in the European
agricultural revolution, and spread globally with the expansion of
Europeans into other continents. The use of forage crops developed also
with the rise of industrialized agriculture, which involved the use of
new techniques and industrial inputs, the application of science and the
rise of a forage seed industry. Since the first domestication of
grazing animals in ancient times, forage has been a major concern of
humans in the husbandry of animals. The early recognition of the
importance of forage is also demonstrated by the early development of
forage conservation. Forage is conserved as hay through drying or as
silage through fermentation. The main objective of the conservation of
forage is to preserve it at the optimum stage of growth for use during
those seasons when the forage is unavailable.
Forage needs to be seeded in a fine, firm seedbed often achieved by
cultivating the soil. The soil has to be analysed, and the proper
amounts of nutrients added for the forage to grow. It can then be grazed
by farm animals or it can be harvested and stored for winter feeding.
Harvested forage is stored as dry hay, haylage or silage. In recent
years there has been a dramatic shift towards the utilization of silage.
Silage is forage with a higher moisture content that is stored in a
structure called silo where oxygen is eliminated and the forage
ferments.
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