Minerals Availability from Grazing Resources to Livestock in Arid Soils

Abstract

The present study was conducted to estimate the mineral contents of grazing resources grown on arid soils for their availability to livestock. The grazing/browse resources were mostly weeds, grasses, shrubs and trees. Under this study 20 mature and dry plant samples along with twigs, comprising 7 weeds and 4 grasses, 5 shrubs and 4 trees commonly preferred for grazing by livestock were collected by hand plucking from CAZRI farm, as well as adopted villages of Barmer and Jaisalmer districts in western Rajasthan during 2010-2012. These weeds, grasses, shrubs and trees samples were analyzed for minerals namely Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Co, Mn, Cr, Pb and Mo. The mineral content (μg 100 g-1 except Ca, which is in mg 100 g-1) in weeds, grasses, shrubs and trees ranged between 105.63 (Cenchrus setigerus - Grass) and 412.57 (Capparis decidua - Shrub) for Ca, 91.67 CC-CAZRI-392 (Cenchrus ciliaris - Grass) and 151.50 (Calotropis procera - Shrub) for Fe, 202.43 CC-CAZRI-358 (Cenchrus ciliaris - Grass) and 583.30 (Achyranthes aspera - Weed) for Zn, 61.53 (Lasiurus sindicus - Grass) and 241.63 (Tetrapogon tenellus - Weed) for Cu, 27.16 (Calotropis procera - Shrub) and 118.63 (Cordia gharaf - Shrub) for Co, 26.03 (Cordia gharaf - Shrub) and 89.85 (Ziziphus nummularia - Shrub) for Mn, 42.80 CC-CAZRI-358 (Cenchrus ciliaris - Grass) and 289.26 (Digera muricata - Weed) for Cr, 19.08 (Lasiurus sindicus - Grass) and 130.27 (Prosopis cineraria - Tree) for Pb and 0.62 (Cenchrus setigerus - Grass) and 113.84 (Tribulus terrestris - Weed) for Mo. In comparison to grasses, shrubs and trees, the availability of minerals from weeds is higher.