LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION SYSTEM AND DAIRY POTENTIAL AT CHOLISTAN DESERT

Published: November 20, 2011

By: M Fiaz Qamar, Muhammad Alam Sabri and Azhar Maqbool

Summary

Cholistan desert a prosperous, lively forest once is now by large a deserted piece of land. There is a range land which contributes to the country’s supply line of milk and other Dairy Products. Its present productive potential is now on decline in spite of the number of the animals in the desert is on the increase. The desert is situated in the south west of Punjab province (Pakistan) and is spread over an area of 26000 sq km. Subsoil aquifers or water is highly saline and brackish. The length of the desert is 480 km and breadth is 32 Km at the lowest and 192 km at the longest part. Low line sand dunes mostly smaller than those found in the greater cholistan are typical for lesser cholistan. These two are the divisions of cholistan desert. The only source of fresh water is tobas which is surface water collected in natural depressions or manmade ponds collected during the monsoon period. This water does not last long due to seepage in sandy soil and high rate of evaporation during summer. The secondary source of water is around 30-40 meters deep underground water which is very rackish with salt content as high as 24000 ppm. The climate is arid hot sub-tropical and monsoonal. The livestock has a great socio-economic impact on the population of cholistan. The human population surviving in this desert is mostly nomadic with a tendency to rear camel, cattle, sheep and goats for their daily milk, meat and transportation needs. The total livestock population is 1209528 heads out of which camel population is 1,11,328. The main dairy animals are 47% cattle, 30% sheep, 22% goat and 1% camel. The milk production per camel ranges from 10-20 litre milk per day. A camel fed 1.9 kg of DM can produce 1 L of milk as compared to cow which requires 9.1 kg of fodder to produce 1 L of milk. Camel milk is high in Vitamin C and can be used to treat Tuberculosis and Dropsy. It consists of 5.1 % lactose, 4.8% fat, 3.8% protein and 0.9% ash. Marketing and processing of milk produced from the Cholistan are the areas to be explored. Keywords: Cholistan, camel, cattle, arid, desert, livestock

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