Common vegetation types in philippine grasslands?

Question

Common vegetation types in philippine grasslands?

Answer 1

The common vegetyation in the Philippines is the cogone grass.

The other detaisl are the some woody trees and planted leucaenas,

The feed resource base for ruminant production in the Philippines is essentially made up of grasslands, weeds, residues from croplands, land under plantation (primarily coconuts), and industrial by-products.

Grasslands

The Philippines has 1.5 million ha of grassland which constitute part of the public domain. Grazing is open to qualified groups and is administered by the Government through the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) via Pasture Lease Agreements (PLA) and Forest Land Grazing Lease Agreements (FLGLA). Extensive areas of grasslands are found in the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato and Bukidnon in Mindanao; in the island provinces of Masbate and Occidental Mindoro; and in Cagayan and Isabela in Luzon. Table 6 shows the area and number of pasture lease agreements under the FLGLA from 1970 to 2005. Between 1975 and 1980 there were about 1.0 million hectares under grazing lease agreements. The area even reached to 1.29 million hectares in 1971/72. Since the early eighties, the number and area currently under lease has been drastically reduced. Reasons for the reduction are: unstable law and order, cattle rustling and squatting resulting in abandonment of the lease areas; cancellation of lease due to non-compliance of leaseholders with the rules and regulation of the lease agreement; and conversion of some lease areas to intensified reforestation and other land uses.

Philippine grasslands are dominated by "cogon grass", the local name for Imperata cylindrica (Figure 6) which constitutes about 50% of total grazing area (Orlido-Aguilar 1995). Other major grass community types observed are Themeda, Capillipedium and Chryosopogon.  

Figure 6. Imperata cylindrica  

Coconut plantations

In addition to the grassland areas, there are 3.2 million ha planted to coconut which can be utilized for livestock production. The natural vegetation under coconuts has a range of species that varies according to location and level of management of plantation. The major components of the vegetation are grasses principally composed of Imperata cylindrica, Axonopus compressus, Paspalum conjugatum and Cyrtococcum spp. (Moog et al. 1993, Moog and Faylon 1991). The commonest legumes are Centrosema pubescens, Calopogonium mucunoides and Pueraria javanica.

Most smallholder farms traditionally graze their animal by tethering; animals are roped and transferred to places where sufficient native vegetation is available. In areas where animals have limited access to grazing, farmers integrate forage crops and utilize crop residues from nearby farm lots.

In 1983, it was estimated that about 400 000 ha of coconut land were stocked with cattle, buffalo or goats. In sugarcane producing areas, weeds are the principal feed during the growing stage of sugarcane. Sugarcane tops constitute 75 to 100 percent of the feeds after the harvest and cane milling season which coincides with the dry season.

In small coconut plantations, cattle and buffaloes are tethered to graze on native vegetation. Some farmers have established small patches of Napier for cut-and-carry feeding. A number of commercial cattle and coconut enterprises grow guinea, Para, star, signal and humidicola grasses for grazing.

In the province of Batangas where fattening of one or a few head of cattle is a common practice, roughage in the form of fresh grasses, cane tops, maize stover, and rice straw is supplemented with fresh Leucaena leucocephala ( known locally as "Ipil-ipil") leaves. Some farmers feed a concentrate mixture at 0.5% of the animal's body weight through forced-feeding. Chopped Leucaena leaves or cassava leaves when available are mixed with the concentrate. Home-mixed concentrate commonly consists of copra meal, rice bran, salt, ground oyster shell and molasses.

Goats are commonly tethered and given supplements of Leucaena, Gliricidia and other fodder trees which are bundled and hung under the house or in trees. Some goats graze shrubs and other vegetation.

Depending on their location, commercial feedlots utilize sugarcane tops, bananas rejected for export, pineapple pulp or brewers' spent grain. Green maize fodder is produced and supplied by a large number of farmers to feedlot operators in Davao and in the General Santos area. Maize fodder production has taken over a significant portion of the maize grain production area. Some farmers prefer growing maize for fodder because they can have 3 to 4 crops a year and they do not experience crop failure, particularly if droughts occur.

Likewise, a number of forage species are being used as alley crops or intercrops for cash crops. The foliage is usually fed to animals while some are turned into the soil to serve as mulch or fertilizer. They also serve for soil conservation purposes. These include Leucaena, Gliricidia, Desmodium rensonii and Flemingia.

Leucaena has been the most popular of the fodder trees. However, in spite of its abundance, it is currently not used extensively as fodder except in Batangas province where backyard cattle fattening is a popular practice. Leucaena is commonly utilized in cut-and-carry feeding. Leucaena is planted in contour rows with areas between the rows remaining on fallow during the dry season and planted to maize at the onset of the rainy season.

SALT is a soil conservation farming scheme where food and perennial crops are grown in alleys 4-5 m wide between contoured rows of leguminous trees and shrubs. The latter are thickly planted in double rows to form hedgerows. When the hedge reaches 1.5 - 2.0 m in height, it is cut back to 40 cm and the cuttings are placed in the alleys between the hedgerows to serve as mulch and organic fertilizer or green manure. Rows of perennial crops such as coffee, cacao, citrus and banana are planted in every third alley created by contoured hedgerows. The alleys not occupied by permanent crops are planted alternately to cereals (e.g. maize, upland rice or sorghum) or other crops (e.g. sweet potato, melon or pineapple) and legumes (e.g. mungbean, string bean, soybean or peanut). This cyclical cropping provides the farmer with several harvests throughout the year. The tree species used in the hedgerows include Leucaena leucocephala, L. diversifolia, Calliandra calothyrsus, Gliricidia sepium, Flemingia macrophylla and Desmodium rensonii. Farmers are encouraged to use a combination of these plants or other fast-growing, fast-coppicing and high-biomass leguminous trees or shrubs found to be suitable on their farms. The MBRLC has continuing programs testing the performance of other species of shrubs and tree legumes for hedgerow and forage use.

Answer 2

Talahib. Maraming malalagong talahib.