This study examines the impact of seasonal climate variations on the growth and productivity of Brachiaria humidicola in Thua Thien Hue Province (renamed Hue City as of January 1, 2025), Vietnam. Field experiments assessed key growth parameters: plant height, canopy height, shoot density, and biomass yield, across two distinct seasons: the spring-summer dry season and the autumn-winter rainy season. The plant’s adaptation to waterlogging was also analyzed through morphological and physiological assessments. Results show that B. humidicola maintains high productivity across both seasons, with significantly greater biomass yields during the spring-summer period (P < 0.05). The species exhibited strong waterlogging tolerance, supported by aerenchyma formation in its roots and leaf sheaths, as well as effective oxygen release mechanisms. These traits highlight B. humidicola’s potential as a climate-resilient forage crop, capable of adapting to extreme weather patterns associated with climate change, such as prolonged flooding and seasonal droughts. These findings establish B. humidicola as a reliable forage crop for sustainable livestock production in flood-prone and drought regions, ensuring a consistent feed supply for ruminants year-round while supporting agricultural resilience in the face of changing climatic conditions.

B. humidicola grown in Thua Thien Hue province to provide food for the buffalo and cow breeding industry. The study was designed to experiment on 2 types of soils, soil growing crop and rice soil, of which 5 land slots with an area of 30m2/plot were selected to grow the grass during the period from January 2021 to December 2022. Research results show that B. humidicola had high vitality, adaptability and growth through the rebirths of grass on the two kinds of soils, soil growing crops and rice soil in Thua Thien Hue province. The highest height of B. humidicola grass grown in the experiment was 73.66cm (batch 2) - 75.02cm (batch 1) on soil growing crops and 79.77cm (batch 3) - 81.36cm (batch 1) on rice soil. The grass lawn height was 44.79cm (batch 2) - 45.79cm (batch 1) for soil growing crops and 46.42cm (batch 3) - 47.93cm (batch 1) for rice soil. Number of branches/bush of various batches of B. humidicola was 40.05 branches/bush (batch 1) – 43.26 branches/bush (batch 3) for soil growing crops and 45.34 branches/bush (batch 2) - 48.30 branches/bush (batch 3) for rice soil. The regenerative capacity green matter yield (12.53 – 13.32 tons/ha/batch), dry matter yield (3.13 – 3.50 tons/ha/batch), protein yield (0.67 – 1.04 tons/ha/batch) of B. humidicola grass grown in Thua Thien Hue were relatively high. This is an abundant source of food for the development of buffalo and cow husbandry.

This study aimed to identify the relationship between temperature, temperature-humidity index (THI), and the amount of dry matter food intake (DMI) by sheep. Twelve Phan Rang (Ninh Thuan province) sheep belonging to three age groups of 6, 9, and 12 months (4 heads of each age group) raised in Thua Thien Hue province were fed with natural grass for two seasons: hot season (April-August) and cold season (November-February). Daily temperature, humidity, and food intake were recorded. The results of the study revealed that temperature and THI were closely correlated (P<0.05) with the amount of food intake by sheep. When the temperature was in the range of 29.5°C to 32.5°C and increased by 1ο C, the DMI of sheep decreased by 14.7 g/BW/day. When the value of THI was more than 28.5 and rose by 1°C, the DMI of sheep decreased by 16.2 g/BW/day.

The objective of this study was to investigate the chemical composition, rumen degradation characteristicand feeding value of Brachiaria humidicola grass – a waterlogged grass in Vietnam at three harvest timesas ruminant feed, including pre-flowering, flowering and post-flowering stage. The nylon bag method wasused to investigate the degradability of DM and OM. The feeding values were evaluated. Results showedthat the DM and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) content of the pre-flowering stage (18.78 and 61.87%) werelower than that of the flowering stage (20.09 and 60.99%) and post-flowering stage (22.49 and 63.46%)(P<0.001). The crude protein (CP) content of the pre-flowering stage (8.57%) was higher than that of theflowering stage (8.28%) and higher than the post-flowering stage (6.19%) (P<0.001). The rumen DM andOM degradation of the grass at the pre-flowering stage was significantly (P0.05).

To facilitate the adoption of a food safety standard by producers, it is essential to understand their perception of it. However, few empirical studies have examined how livestock farmers perceive food safety standards in Vietnam. This research examines sheep farmers’ attitudes towards Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP), a type of a food safety standard in Vietnam. A sample size of 109 farmers was selected for interviews and a structured questionnaire was generated to collect data. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were employed. The study results show that sheep farmers were well aware of most VietGAP requirements. They perceived that adopting VietGAP requires practical changes in sheep farming systems, including: selecting breeding stock from clear sources to ensure sheep product traceability, collecting and treating wastes daily to protect the environment, and frequent sterilization of sheep cages. The farmers were changing several practices to comply with VietGAP. Key changed practices identified included: bought breeding stock from clear and reliable sources, frequent collecting and treating of sheep wastes, and used veterinary medicine according to instructions of veterinary medicine producers. Statistically significant relationships existing between the sheep farmers’ perceptions and their education level (Pearson = 0.229, p = 0.017), farm size (Pearson = −0.193; p = 0.049), gender (Eta = 0.173, p = 0.060), practice of using labours (Eta = 0.202, p = 0.028), training participation (Eta = 0.211, p = 0.022), credit participation (Eta = 0.177, p = 0.050), community-based organisations (Eta = 0.153, p = 0.087), and veterinary/extension contacts (Eta = 0.217, p = 0.019) were found. This means that a male sheep farmer who had a higher education level, possessed a smaller farm, practiced hired labours, participated in training/credit programs, was a member of community-based organisation, and had contacts with veterinary/extension workers likely perceived VietGAP better than their counterparts. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that the promotion of VietGAP for livestock farmers should be developed and carried out as joint attempts along the value chain actors. New food marketing practices and legal framework and policy for using safe food certifications are required to address to promote farmers’ adoption of VietGAP and facilitate transition towards a sustainable agri-food system in Vietnam. This study provides significant insights into safety food standard adoption by livestock farmers and highlights aspects that require to be considered when developing policies to improve the adoption of safety food standards in developing countries.

Hairless grass (Brachiaria humidicola) grown in Thua Thien Hue initially showed that it can adapt to the weather and climate conditions in Thua Thien Hue. The study aimed to evaluate this grass species' growth capacity, production capacity, and economic efficiency when using different levels of organic fertilization. The experiment was conducted on four fertilization regimes of 10, 20, 30, and 50 tons of organic fertilizer per hectare in a 1-year cycle; for each hectare, we chose 5 points for data collection and analysis of nutritional values and measurement of productivity. The results showed that increasing the amount of fertilizer enhanced the green growth capacity, the yield of each hectare, and the economic efficiency of Brachiaria humidicola (P < 0.05). Increasing the amount of organic fertilizer to 50 tons per hectare did not differ from 30 tons per hectare. A fertilization regime of 30 tons per hectare for grass has brought high economic efficiency in livestock farming of goats and cattle. Additionally, green matter, dry matter, and protein yield were above 12.89, 3.62, and 0.98 tons per hectare per time harvested. Furthermore, this result also showed that dry matter (%), crude protein, total minerals, and insoluble fiber in the neutral detergent of B. humidicola were 25.36, 7.92, 70.87, and 8.73% dry matter, respectively. Our research results could provide more useful information about the newly introduced grass of B. humidicola planted in rice croplands. This might benefit local farmers in converting cultivated crops from growing rice to grasses for cattle. Our data will provide scientific data and experimental facilities for planting new species for climate change adaptation in Thua Thien Hue province areas.