Title: FORAGE RANGE SURVEY AND LIVESTOCK NUTRITION MONITORING IN NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA

A minor field study was conducted with the aim of examining the range forage condition in relation to livestock condition during the dry season (May - August, 1999) in Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA). Two grazing routes were selected for forage range survey and pastoral household communities for fecal sampling and livestock condition. The routes were first Oloirobi - Endulen and secondly Oloirobi - Malanja Depression - Olbalbal routes. The Four households were identified in each route and fecal samples were collected during June - August. From this study, pastoralists identified over 20 forage species as preferred by livestock. On average the percentage chemical composition for the forage sampled were 93.38, 10.19, 72.07 and 71.60 for DM, CP, IN-VDMD and IN-IOMD respectively. While the mean percentage on mineral composition for K, Ca 2+, Mg 2+, P and Na were 3.02, 1.47, 0.26, 1.21 and 0.93 respectively. The livestock Body Condition Score (BCS) during May was M+ for cattle and F for small ruminants indicating that at this time the livestock was in good condition. Diet quality from NIRS scan showed that livestock grazed better pasture in June than the following months. This paper therefore presents and discusses the results of the study. It also highlights some issues for the Global Livestock project. Some recommendations and suggestions are given.