Importance of Silvopastoral System for Sustainable Agriculture

Agroforestry is sustainable agricultural practice which provides optimum benefits to people, livestock and crops. The sustainability of natural ecosystems is also improved when it support wildlife and called silvopastoral system. Agroforestry is low-input integration of tree species into agriculture crops. For agricultural based economies where population pressure is high there implementation of silvopastoral system adds value in conserving and utilizing land for maximum benefits. Marginal lands to wildlife habitats are critical for wildlife and preservation of watersheds. Deforestation practice leads not only to loss of the forest resource but to the loss of the soil resource through erosion, damage to watersheds and amplify twirl of paucity for the poor people around globe. Silvopastoralism focuses on the production of livestock and tree products in one integrated pasture system. Silvopasture is important activity when it is economical to run a single species, cattle, under a monoculture in a large silvopastoral operation. On small farms, in the tropics diversification of animal and plant species is the most efficient utilization of the resource and provides a variety of products. Realizing the importance of silvopasture management for meeting the biomass requirement research work was initiated during the sixties at various institutions in India. The results obtained during the past three decades indicate that fodder and fuel wood production could be increased several folds from the existing levels through proper management of wastelands. The mean annual production of 8-10 t/ha was possible from various tree-grass combinations, comprising 4.5 to 5 t/ha of fodder from grasses, 1.5 to 2 t/ha of leaf fodder from tree lopping and 2 to 2.5 t/ha of fuel wood from the lopped branches. In the Shiwalik foothills of Punjab, the fodder production increased by 267 percent from the wastelands through proper management approaches, which increased the milk production by 213 percent. Lopping is fairly common in various silvipastoral plots in fact lopping is a powerful management tool for controlling crown spread, inducing light penetration and aiding recovery from injury. Frequent and excessive lopping of tree result in rapid drain of stored plant food reserves, leading to reduction in growth of tree girth and production of leaf biomass. Multi purpose trees and shrubs provide more than one significant benefit to land use system in which it grows. The common uses of trees species are wood, fodder, green manure, fruits and chemicals for medicines. Some of the trees could be nitrogen fixing with symbiotic association with Nitrogen fixing bacteria or fungi. There are more than 640 tree species which are known to fix nitrogen. Multipurpose trees are selected for plantation in wastelands so that these can take care of multivariate aspects. Grazing management is important aspect of silvopasture utilization and its maintenance. Grazing pressure rank to the communities on the basis of factors of above ground net primary production removed by various herbivores. The higher the grazing pressure higher is the rank. Overgrazing causes severe damage it eliminate valuable tree seedlings, creates deformities in trees due to repeated browsing and lopping, compaction of soil, acceleration of runoff and erosion, etc. Silvopasture system is more economical from second year onwards and started to give higher returns over variable costs. Silvopasture system promises employment to rural youth in the activities of animal husbandry, collection, processing, and manufacturing of value added products from trees and grasses. Apart from direct economic benefits, it also add the recreational and aesthetic value.