The Necessity to Develop a Comprehensive Feed Library for Livestock Production in South Asia

Regional feed library contains information in regional languages for available feeds/fodders and by-products that are being fed to the livestock. The lack of dynamic feed quality information containing complete nutrient profile, anti-nutritional factors, and digestibility information at the regional level for current varieties o f feed and fodder species and their by-products leads to the misuse of valuable crop residues and supplements. The problem is more rampant in Southern Asian countries, like India and Bangladesh. This causes low per animal productivity, more green house gas (GHG) emissions, and wastage of valuable feed material. Modern feed libraries are dynamic and inlcude latest varieties/cultivars/genotypes of feed and fodder along with the most common feeds/fodders available in that region. This assists the small scale and commercial livestock producers in selecting the best locally available fodders/feeds combinations to meet the nutrient requirement o f their livestock depending on the physiological stage and productivity. This allows efficient use of available feed resources, low-cost ration formulations and enhance the income of livestock farmers while contributing lower GHG emission from ruminant animals.