Para grass (Brachiaria mutica), ensiled or supplemented with sugar palm syrup, improves growth and feed conversion in "Yellow" cattle fed rice straw

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to determine: i) an appropriate additive level of sugar palm syrup for ensiling para grass, and ii) the growth response by local cattle when the syrup was applied either at ensiling or at feeding. In the ensiling experiment, 72 plastic bag silos each containing 1 kg fresh grass were allocated to 4 treatments (SP0, SP2, SP4 and SP6 of 0, 2, 4 and 6% syrup on fresh matter basis) with 3 replicates per treatment and 6 sampling times. The pH in SP0 decreased from 7.1 to 6.1 after 5 days and stayed at that level until day 180. The pH of silage made with sugar palm syrup (SP2, SP4 and SP6) decreased from 7.1 to below 5.0 at day 5. After day 14, the pH of all syrup-treated silages increased by 0.5 units until day 180, possibly due to air entry. The NH3-N content increased with storage time and was highest in SP0 (about 220 g/kg total N) after 90-180 days. Applying at least 2% sugar palm syrup to para grass at ensiling reduced NH3-N and pH values and improved the quality of the resulting silage. In the feeding trial, 15 female cattle of the local "Yellow" breed with an average live weight of 110 kg were randomly allocated to one of three diets identified as PS0: rice straw (RS) + a rumen supplement (urea, molasses, minerals), PSE: RS + para grass silage made with 3% sugar palm syrup, PSF: RS + para grass silage made without sugar palm syrup but with 3% sugar palm syrup added at feeding. Daily DM consumption was highest, and crude protein (CP) intake and apparent digestibility were lowest for diet PS0 compared with diets PSE and PSF. Live weight gain was lower and feed conversion better, and rumen pH lower, with diets PSE and PSF than PS0.

Keywords

Feed conversion; Growth; Rumen supplement; Silage

Published in

Livestock Research For Rural Development
2013, volume: 25, number: 7, article number: 133

SLU Authors

• Holtenius, Kjell

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Pauly, Thomas

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/132159