In order to sustain and promote the economy of livestock sector as complimentary component, fodder-based feeding strategies provide ample opportunities for economising the economic productivity. A vast array of forage species are grown under varying management situations in different agro-ecological regions. April 2008

Under the current scenario of farming with changing natural resource base, food habits, industrialisation, maize having adaptability across diverse soil and climatic conditions has emerged as an important crop for food and nutritional security and farm economy. Among all the cereals, the growth of maize production is highest (4.2%), which is much higher than the major crops (rice and wheat). April 2008

The climatic, edaphic and socio-economic diversity of the Indian crop production scene is dotted with many cropping patterns and systems. The cropping systems considered to be major contributors to the national food baskets are rice-wheat, rice-rice, pearl-millet-wheat, sorghum-wheat, maize-wheat and systems, where land was kept fallow either in Kharif or Rabi season occupy 19 mha area. April 2008