Editorial

The increase in demand of milk and meat, and the more efficient use of the resources available in the productive system makes necessary to identify and evaluate alternative sources of food, and to develop handling technologies at a lower cost of production in order to increase the profitability of the agricultural business. In this sense, Corpoica is pleased to share a new issue of our journal, which is focused on the characterization and evaluation of the nutritional values of alternatives sources of animal food, and the financial evaluation of traditional and introduced varieties of onion and garlic. In addition, two reviews about biological and ecological aspects of ticks and the new trends on rural extension methods to the development of self-management capabilities are included in the issue. The results from the researches in alternative sources of animal food show promising results in the use of crops residues from the pear harvest as the source of energy and protein to animal food and the use of tunnels to make worm meal drying more efficient. Another research reported in this issue of the journal documents the goodness of the legume Crotalaria Brasiliensis to be incorporated as green fertilizer in forage or as hay to supply dairy cows. The results show that when the removal of biomass of the legume to make hay is less than 50 %, the beneficial effect of the legume on the corn's performance is not significantly reduced. Besides, the compositional quality of milk using hay from the legume is maintained. All of these results have the potential to become a technological offer that contributes to the technical change that improves productivity and competitiveness of the agricultural sector.

Miguel Ángel Ayarza Moreno
Director (e) de Investigación y Desarrollo
Corpoica Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria