MITIGATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH FODDER PRODUCTION SYSTEMS–A REVIEW
AKHILA C. THAMPI* AND USHA C. THOMAS
AICRP on Forage Crops & Utilization
College of Agriculture, Vellayani,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala- 695 522, India
*(e-mail : akhiohm@gmail.com)
(Received : 1 March 2017; Accepted : 15 July 2017)
SUMMARY
Livestock production is a major source of GHGemissions, and reducing meat consumption or changing from ruminant to non-ruminant meat could have a number of environmental benefits. Improving management of grazing land has the greatest mitigation potential of all agricultural interventions, over 1.5 bt CO2 equivalents/year, sufficient to offset all the emissions from livestock production. In our view, ignoring the importance of forage-based systems may leave 50-80 per cent of the mitigation potential of agriculture untapped. Thus, improved grassland management and sustainable intensification of foragebased systems (through improved resource use efficiency, improved carbon sequestration, and reduced emissions due to BNI) are key to mitigating GHG emissions from livestock production, and will deliver other co-benefits such as increased productivity, reduced erosion, improved soil quality and nutrient and water use efficiency, resource conservation, reduced costs, and social and cultural benefits.
Key words: Climate change, fodder production system, food, by-products