Rangeland management and animal production sustainability under arid and semi arid conditions: Egypt overview

Livestock fodder needs in nearly all developing countries now exceed the sustainable yield of rangelands and other forage resources. In Africa, overgrazing has reduced range productivity virtually everywhere. It is important to provide animals with adequate nutrition to ensure the high productive and reproductive performance. Meanwhile, it is necessary to avoid the deterioration of the pastureland from the grazing pressure; some procedures should be carried out to ensure the integration and balancing of the bio- system elements such as determining the suitable carrying capacity and stocking rate of the rangeland, use of suitable grazing system, multi species grazing, optimizing pasture utilization and supplemental feeding.