Abstract :
This review paper updates knowledge on the fodder potential of a wide range of halophytes
and salt-tolerant forages. These plants can produce relatively high consumable biomass in
saline areas where non-halophytic species cannot grow or have low dry matter yields.
Therefore, halophytes and some other salt-tolerant plants can provide a drought reserve
or a supplementary feed source under arid and semi-arid conditions. On grazing lands,
the halophytes can serve as a complementary nutrients source to other conventional feedstuffs,
such as Atriplex spp. and cereal straws or hays. In addition to biomass production,
wide variations in palatability, chemical composition, nutritive value and animal responses
to several halophytes and salt-tolerant forages have been reported in the literature. Some of
these species could be valuable sources of minerals and or nitrogen. However, the provision
of energy supplements (e.g. barley) is necessary to overcome maintenance and or moderate
production requirements of sheep and goats fed on halophytes and or salt-tolerant
forages-based diets. Many studies showed that these plants could be used advantageously
as alternative feeds to replace totally or partially common feedstuffs, thus to alleviate feeding
cost. However, the presence of high contents of ash, plant secondary metabolites and
non-protein nitrogen (NPN) should be taken into consideration when formulating diets
containing halophytes and or salt-tolerant forages for small ruminants. Although most of
feeding studies reported in this review have been carried in the Near East region, mainly in
Egypt, results obtained in other regions worldwide support that feeding salt-tolerant plants
and halophytes could promote livestock production systems, increase farmers’ incomes and
improve environmental conditions in the saline areas.
