Halophytic and Salt-Tolerant Feedstuffs

Naturally occurring salt tolerant and halophytic plants (trees, shrubs, grasses, and forbs) have always been utilised by livestock as a supplement or drought reserve. Salt tolerant forage and fodder crops are now being planted over wide areas. Increasingly, large-scale production of fodder on formerly abandoned irrigated cropland has allowed salt tolerant and halophytic feedstuffs to be mainstreamed into the supply chain for feedlots.

Feeding salty feeds to livestock has been evaluated in many countries with good outcomes, especially as a way to improve livestock nutrition and productivity. Better ways have been devised to use these potentially valuable feed resources. These feedstuffs are best fed in mixed rations. Substituting conventional fodder with up to 30 percent of the diets comprising halophytic feedstuffs has proved most successful for ruminant livestock, but special formulations have been devised for poultry and rabbits. There are big savings on the import of costly feedstuffs and benefits to the livelihoods of those dependent on scattered, sparse, and unreliable forage/fodder in the world's drylands that cover about 40 percent of the world's land surface.

Halophytic and Salt-Tolerant Feedstuffs is written by leading authorities from many different countries. It reviews past and current work on the animal-oriented aspects of the utilisation of feedstuffs derived from salt tolerant and halophytic plants. It brings to the reader—scientists, researchers, academics and their students, policy makers, and livestock operators—an up-to-date analysis of the important issues related to salt-rich feedstuffs, including nutrition, productivity, and reproduction.