Nutritional Value and In Vitro Volatile Fatty Acid Production of Forage Grasses Cultivated Using Farmyard Manure and Desmodium intortum Intercropping in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Integrating farmyard manure (FYM) and legume intercropping improves soil chemical microbial properties, thereby increasing forage productivity nutritional value. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how fertilizer treatments affected the composition, in vitro gas production organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), volatile fatty acid (VFA) Napier desho grasses upper Blue Nile basin Ethiopia. Apart from ether extract content, composition Aba Gerima watershed did not differ significantly, whereas significant differences were observed detergent fiber crude protein contents at Guder watershed. In both watersheds, grass had significantly higher levels than grass. Gerima, ash content 2018 2019, but Guder. For grasses, there an increment IVOMD (6.7 vs 4.7%), metabolizable energy (5.5 4.5%), VFA (23.1 3.0%) Desmodium intortum plus FYM treatment control Gerima. Guder, however, (13.7 4.6%), (13.3 3.3%), (11.2 5.6%) increased same for control. This suggests that value, IVOMD, dryland areas basin, facilitating their growth as alternative livestock feed better these areas.