Turkey and Eastern Anatolia Region Meadow-Ranglands Areas, Animal Existence and Current Situation of Forage Crops Agriculture

Today, animal products are vital for a healthy and balanced nutrition. in order to obtain animal products, adequate and nutritious nutritional conditions should be provided in order to determine the functions and needs of farm animals well and to produce high quality products. turkey's meadow-pasture assets are 14.6 million ha. eastern anatolia region constitutes 37.53% of our country's meadow and pasture areas with 5.5 million ha. our country has 14.9 million animal existance (ae) bovine (%74.19), 5.1 million (ae) ovine (25.31%), 98.733 (ae) versus single hoofs (0.50%) have a total animal value of 20.1 million. in plant production, 13.1 million tons have been supplied from fodder crops production and 10.3 million tons from meadow-pasture areas, and the total amount of quality hay produced is 23.4 million tons per year. when the amount of forage produced and our animal existence are evaluated, the rough feed deficit is 68.4 million tons. in order to fill the deficiency, it will not be sufficient to evaluate the feeds with low feed value. in our country, planned and programmed studies should be carried out to cover the quality forage deficit, and it is necessary to encourage researches on forage crop species and varieties suitable for each region and to continue increasing the support applied to forage plants.