asif tanveer

Weeds could replace the cultivated fodders in case of fodder shortage. But most of farmers are not aware about the potential of traditional weeds in croplands. Thus, an experiment was conducted to estimate the nutritional quality of some forage weeds with respect to their phonological development. Quantitative and qualitative parameters were recorded and analyzed statistically by analysis of variance technique and means of treatments were compared by least significant difference test. Qualitative traits of selected weeds were determined through the methods developed by The Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). The results showed that the quantitative traits of weeds differ from each other. It was found that the moisture decreased from vegetative (86.13-90.92%) to post reproductive stage (86.77-73.56%) and crude protein decreased from vegetative (16.95-23.40%) to post reproductive stage (11.52-15.09%) in all weeds. Similarly ash contents decreased from vegetative (13.72-23.40%) to post reproductive stage (9.26-13.11%) in all weeds. The crude fats were nearly similar in all stages (1.75-2.00%). Dry matter and crude fiber increased (9.08-13.87 to 13.23-26.44% and 9.86-21.95 to 21.58-31.63%, respectively) from vegetative to post reproductive stage. Overall results declared that the biomass produced by weeds was a luxurious source for livestock production during the vegetative stage of growth as the nutritional quality decreased from vegetative to post reproductive stages. Further research is needed to explore the forage quality of all common weeds present in croplands.

Genus Salsola, a genus of annual semi-dwarf to dwarf shrubs and woody tree species, is widely distributed across the arid and semi-arid areas of the world. Several features like high fodder value, abundant seed production, tolerance to extreme climatic conditions like high temperature and prolonged drought conditions contributed significantly towards its success as a potential forage species in semi-arid to arid environments. Species of this genus are of significant importance and species like Salsola soda are cultivated and consumed as vegetables in Italy, while others (S. tragus and S. baryosoma) are utilized as livestock fodder in arid and dry areas. The species of genus Salsola are grouped as halophytes, which are also useful for rehabilitation and reclamation of degraded saline lands and saline soils, respectively. Many plants of this genus are used in medicines and cosmetics as they are cure for human heart, skin diseases, cough and influenza. This paper comprises a comprehensive review on the important species of Salsola, along with its medicinal uses and other useful properties that will aid the researcher in determining the need of future research. We focus on the adaptive features of genus Salsola plants for their effective utilization in drought prone semi-arid to arid conditions and also to remediate degraded saline soils.