Abstract
Smallholder livestock farmers who depend on natural communal grazing lands are particularly vulnerable to climate change as well as to food insecurity and should be encouraged to grow drought-tolerant fodder crops. Moringa oleifera is a highly valued plant, due to its exceptionally high nutritional content. This study was conducted at two experimental sites in the Limpopo province of northern South Africa to evaluate for the first time the effect of plant density and cutting interval on biomass production and chemical composition of moringa grown under two diverse climatic conditions. Four different planting densities (435,000, 300,000, 200,000, and 100,000 plants/ha) were arranged in a randomized complete block design and experimental samples were replicated four times. Data for biomass and gravimetric soil moisture content were collected each time the plants reached a height of 50 cm. Harvested leaves were analysed for chemical composition. An increase in the plant density led to elevated biomass production at both study locations, ranging between 527 and 2867 kg/ha. Moringa is capable of meeting all nutrient requirements of livestock depending on harvest time and location.
Highlights
Agriculture makes vital contributions to the living conditions of rural communities in South Africa as livestock and crop production are their main sources of livelihoods
Planting density had a significant influence on biomass production at both Syferkuil and Ofcolaco
This study demonstrated that the greater the plant density the higher the total aboveground dry biomass production of moringa across harvests times and at both locations, the effect on plant height at each harvest was not significant
Summary
Agriculture makes vital contributions to the living conditions of rural communities in South Africa as livestock and crop production are their main sources of livelihoods. The prospect of climate change poses a serious threat to food security and feed supply, whereby some farmers will lose their livestock owing to a shortage of fodder. According to Maponya and Mpandeli [2], drought and extreme temperatures are already causing serious problems in the province, forcing farmers in some areas to sell their livestock due to lack of feed. These drought conditions are not limited to Limpopo alone but to South Africa as a whole [2]. Lack of sufficient and highquality fodder, mainly during the dry seasons in tropical and subtropical areas in particular, has increased the need to provide supplementary fodder to sustain farm animals [3]
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