Special Issue "Novel Animal Feeds, Forage Crops, and Cultivation Strategies for Enhancing Livestock Nutrition and Ecosystem Services"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Mark A Lee
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Natural Capital and Plant Health, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK
Interests: animal nutrition; climate change; ecology and ecosystems; forage; grasslands; livestock; natural capital; plants

Special Issue Information

Global meat and milk production has increased rapidly in recent years and livestock farms now cover vast areas of the planet. Livestock farms can deliver benefits to society, such as provisioning (e.g., meat, milk, and raw materials), regulating (e.g., soil protection and carbon storage), supporting (e.g., wildlife habitat and genetic diversity), and cultural (e.g., aesthetic inspiration, tourism, mental health, and physical health) ecosystem services. Although some livestock feeds and feeding systems enhance the delivery of ecosystem services, many do not, causing detrimental impacts on our environment. Innovative feeding techniques and technologies could offer solutions, increasing productivity, optimising the delivery of valuable ecosystem services, and improving the sustainability of the sector. Innovations include novel feed components, novel combinations of feed and/or forage, and novel methods of cultivation (e.g., biodiverse pastures, low fertiliser inputs, silvopasture, and precision farming).

In this Special Issue, we aim to bring together research articles, reviews, and short communications that investigate novel animal feeds or forage crops as well as innovative cultivation or feeding strategies. Manuscripts should consider the nutrition or health of the animals as well as the delivery of one or more ecosystem service (for more information, see http://www.teebweb.org/resources/ecosystem-services/). Manuscripts that focus on housed or pasture-fed livestock, or that focus on the cultivation of the feed or forage, are welcome providing that they also consider at least one ecosystem service in addition to food production.

Dr. Mark A Lee
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • animal nutrition
  • climate change
  • ecology and ecosystems
  • forage
  • grasslands
  • livestock
  • natural capital
  • plants

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Cover Crop Management on the Southern High Plains: Impacts on Crop Productivity and Soil Water Depletion
Animals 2021, 11(1), 212; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010212 - 16 Jan 2021
Viewed by 449
Abstract
The imminent depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer demands innovative cropping alternatives. Even though the benefits of cover crops are well recognized, adoption has been slow in the Southern High Plains (SHP) of the United States because of concerns that cover crops withdraw soil [...] Read more.
The imminent depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer demands innovative cropping alternatives. Even though the benefits of cover crops are well recognized, adoption has been slow in the Southern High Plains (SHP) of the United States because of concerns that cover crops withdraw soil water to the detriment of the summer crops. This small plot experiment tested the interacting effects—production, soil water depletion of the cover crops, and subsequent teff [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] summer hay crops—of irrigation and tillage management with five cover crop types to identify low-risk cover crop practices in the drought-prone SHP. Dryland rye (Secale cereale L.) produced modest forage biomass (>1000 kg ha−1), even in a dry year, but it was found that light irrigation should be used to ensure adequate forage supply (>1200 kg ha−1) if winter grazing is desired. No-till management and timely termination of the winter cover crops were crucial to reducing the negative impact of winter crops on summer teff production. The results indicated no detriment to soil water content that was attributable to planting no-till cover crops compared with the conventional practice of winter fallow. Therefore, producers could take advantage of the soil-conserving attributes of high-quality winter forage cover crops without experiencing significant soil water depletion. Full article
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