• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제13권9호
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• pp.1309-1315
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• 2000

Sixteen Large $White{\times}Landrace$ pigs 12 weeks of age, with an average body weight of $22.9{\pm}2.12kg$ were fed four experimental diets; a commercial grain-based grower diet (control); or a diet containing 20% of either sun-dried leucaena leaf meal (LLM), water soaked LLM or $FeSO_4-treated$ LLM, replacing the basal diet. There was a significant (p<0.05) decrease in live weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) in pigs fed the diet containing sun-dried LLM. Growth rate, feed intake and FCE were not affected by the addition of water-soaked and FeSO4-treated LLM to the basal diet. Triiodothyronine $(T_3)$ and thyroxine $(T_4)$ levels in the blood plasma were not affected by the dietary treatments. Addition of $FeSO_4-treated$ LLM to the basal diet significantly (p<0.05) reduced the back fat thickness of the pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제13권9호
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• pp.1249-1254
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• 2000

A study was conducted to evaluate the replacement value of Leucaena leucocephala and Gliricidia sepium as nitrogen sources in commercial type supplements for dairy goats. Six crossbred $(Toggenburg{\times}Saanen)$ goats at late stage of lactation were allocated to three dietary treatments in a double $3{\times}3$ Latin square design. The animals were offered rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay ad libitum and supplemented with either Leucaena-based concentrate (LBC), Gliricidia-based concentrate (GBC) or commercial based concentrate (CC). Voluntary food intake, milk yield and composition and changes in live weight were measured. The total dry matter (DM) intake was higher (p<0.05) in goats fed GBC than CC (1385 vs 1331 g/d). The DM intake for LBC (1343 g/d) was similar to CC (1331 g/d). The DM intake of hay was also higher (p<0.05) in goats fed GBC (834 g/d) than those receiving LBC or CC (789, 782 g/d, respectively). Animals supplemented with GBC recorded positive (11 g/d) weight gain while the other groups lost weight (13, 19 g/d) for LBC and CC respectively, although these differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). The composition of milk were: butterfat 58, 49 and 55 g/kg; crude protein 37.0, 35.4 and 36.1 g/kg; lactose 33, 29 and 30 g/kg; Ash 8.5, 8.5 and 7.9 g/kg and total solids 136.5, 121.9 and 129.0 g/kg, for goats fed LBC, GBC and CC respectively. There were no differences in the composition of milk due to these dietary treatments. At the end of performance trial, a digestibility trial was conducted using 6 female goats allocated to the three treatments (LBC, GBC and CC) in an incomplete randomized block design and each goat received a different supplement in each of two successive periods. There were no differences in nutrient digestibility except for DM, which was higher (p<0.05) in CC compared to the other treatments (615, 622, 720 g/kg for LBC, GBC and CC, respectively). Economic analysis showed that CC diet was more expensive (0.20 US$/kg) and had a lower margin over supplementation (0.11 US$) compared to LBC and GBC (0.13 vs 0.12 US$/kg and 01.5 vs 0.12 US$, respectively). It is concluded that the Leucaena and Gliricidia could contribute as nitrogen sources in compounded diet supplements without any detrimental effects on production in dairy goats.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제27권5호
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• pp.658-666
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• 2014

This study aimed to evaluate urea excretion, nitrogen balance and microbial protein synthesis in lactating goats fed with diets containing different protein sources in the concentrate (soybean meal, cottonseed meal, aerial part of cassava hay and leucaena hay). Four Alpine goats whose mean body weight was $42.6{\pm}6.1kg$ at the beginning of the experiment, a mean lactation period of $94.0{\pm}9.0days$ and a production of $1.7{\pm}0.4kg$ of milk were distributed in a $4{\times}4$ Latin square with four periods of 15 days. Diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous, containing 103.0 g/kg of CP, 400 g/kg of Tifton 85 hay and 600 g/kg of concentrate. Diet containing cottonseed meal provided (p<0.05) increased excretion of urea and urea nitrogen in the urine (g/d and mg/kg of BW) when compared with leucaena hay. The diets affected the concentrations of urea nitrogen in plasma (p<0.05) and excretion of urea nitrogen in milk, being that soybean meal and cottonseed meal showed (p<0.05) higher than the average aerial part of the cassava hay. The use of diets with cottonseed meal as protein source in the concentrate in feeding of lactating goats provides greater nitrogen excretion in urine and negative nitrogen balance, while the concentrate with leucaena hay as a source of protein, provides greater ruminal microbial protein synthesis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제28권8호
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• pp.1155-1162
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• 2015

This study aimed to evaluate the nutrient digestibility of growing rabbits fed diets with different levels of either Leucaena leucocephala (LLM) or Moringa oleifera (MOLM) leaf meals and also to compare total collection and $TiO_2$ marker methods for estimating digestibility. A total of 30 California growing rabbits ($1.81{\pm}0.19kg$ live weight on average) were randomly distributed into five experimental groups of six rabbits each and were housed in individual cages. The groups were control, 30% LLM, 40% LLM, 30% MOLM, and 40% MOLM. All groups received pelleted diets for two weeks; diets also contained 4 g/kg titanium dioxide as dietary marker. Daily feed intake was recorded during the whole experimental period and total feces were collected daily and weighed individually during four days. The results showed that there were no difference (p>0.05) in feed, dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), digestible energy, and crude fiber (CF) intake between the control group and the other experimental groups. The apparent digestibility values of DM, OM, CP, CF, acid detergent fiber, and gross energy were the highest for control group (p = 0.001), meanwhile MOLM diets had generally higher nutrient digestibility coefficients than LLM diets. Increasing the inclusion level of leaf meal in the diet from 30% to 40% improved the digestibility of CF from 45.02% to 51.69% for LLM and from 48.11% to 55.89% for MOLM. Similar results for apparent nutrient digestibility coefficients were obtained when either total collection or indigestible marker method was used. In conclusion, the digestibility of MOLM containing diets were better than LLM diets, furthermore $TiO_2$ as an external marker could be used as a simple, practical and reliable method to estimate nutrients digestibility in rabbit diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제15권12호
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• pp.1732-1737
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• 2002

This study was conducted to examine the effect of Leucaena leucocephala-Morus alba-Azadirachta indica (2:1:1) based leaf meal mixture as nitrogen source to partially replace (50%) soybean meal in conventional supplements on the performance of goats. Twelve non-descript female goats were divided into two equal groups in a completely randomized design to receive either the leaf meal mixture based supplement (LMAM) or soybean meal incorporated concentrate (SBM) and wheat straw for ad libitum intake for a two month period. The goats given LMAM and SBM concentrate had similar dry matter intake ($50.2{\pm}1.67g/kg\;W^{0.75}$) and nutrient digestibility. Nitrogen intake and its faecal and urinary excretion were similar irrespective of diets. The balance of nitrogen was positive and comparable ($1.63{\pm}0.08g/d$) in both dietary treatments. The plane of nutrition on both diets was comparable and the digestible crude protein and total digestible nutrients values of the composite diets offered did not differ significantly between the dietary supplements. The serum concentration of enzymes alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase were statistically similar in both the groups, while haemoglobin and serum urea levels were significantly (p<0.05) higher in LMAM and SBM treatments, respectively. It was concluded that the leaf meal mixture of Leucaena leucocephala-Morus alba-Azadirachta indica could be used as a vegetable protein supplement to wheat straw based diet of goats.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제15권8호
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• pp.1139-1146
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• 2002

Sixty crossbred Anglo-Nubian goats (growing females), 18-24 mo of age, with a mean pre-experimental live weight of $20.9{\pm}0.44kg$ were used to investigate voluntary dry matter intake (DMI) and digestibility of supplements of Leucaena leucocephala (LL) leaves to a basal diet of guinea grass. The experiment was a 3 forms of presentation: fresh, wilted and $dry{\times}4$ levels of supplementation: 10, 20, 30 and 40% of total forage allowance with LL leaves. The goats were assigned based on weight and age to one of the twelve diets in a randomized manner and each level had five animals (replicates) per diet for 56 days. The form of presentation of LL leaves had effects on dry matter (DM) and nutrient composition. DM and NDF were higher in the dry LL leaves (p<0.05). In the diets, CP increased as the level of supplementation with LL leaves increased (p<0.05). Mean CP was similar in the fresh ($14.8{\pm}3.5%$), wilted ($14.3{\pm}3.3%$) and dry forms ($13.9{\pm}3.1%$). Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) decreased linearly (p<0.05) with increase in levels of supplementation. Organic matter (OM) followed the trend of CP concentration (p<0.05). Drying was observed to reduce the availability of CP at the different levels of supplementation and subsequently this affected the NDF of the diets. DM intake of the goats on the fresh and wilted LL leaves was significantly higher (p<0.05) than in those on the dry LL leaves. DM intake of the basal diet was observed to decrease as the level of supplementation (p<0.05) increased regardless of the form of presentation of LL. Growth rate was best (p<0.05) on the fresh form followed by wilted and the least in the dry form. Growth rate decreased linearly (p<0.05) with increase in the level of supplementation in the dry form. The form of presentation and level of supplementation influenced DM, CP and OM digestibility (p<0.05). Except for NDF, the digestibility of DM, CP and OM were better (p<0.05) in the goats on fresh LL leaves compared to the wilted and dry leaves. Based on the data on DMI, growth rate and apparent nutrient digestibility coefficients, the results suggest that LL leaves is best utilized when fed fresh or wilted to goats. In the dry form of presentation, the best level of supplementation without a reduction in voluntary DMI and growth rate is the 20%. In the fresh and wilted form, LL leaves could be fed up to the 40% level with improved DMI, growth rate and nutrient utilization.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.378-384
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• 1997

The ruminal solubility of copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), and zinc (Zn) in eight Philippine forages was studied. These forages were: 1) grasses: paragrass (Brachiaria mutica (Forsk.) Stapf), stargrass (Cynodon plectostachyum Pilger), and napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.); 2) creeping legumes: calopogonium or calopo (Calopogonium muconoides Desv.) and centrocema (Centrocema pubescens Benth.); 3) tree lequmes: gliricidia or kakawate (Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Walp.), leucaena or ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit.), and sesbania or katuray (Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Poir). Nylon bags with samples were incubated for 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72h in three rumen cannulated sheep fed with timothy hay (Phleum pratense L.) at 2% body weight/d. The 0-h bags were washed with deionized water. There were species differences (p < 0.05) on the different solubilities of trace elements. At O-h incubation, the trend of solubility was Mo (54%) > Zn (43%) > Cu (38.7%) > Mn (29.5%). At 3-h incubation, all the elements except Mn had an average solubility above 50%. Combining particulate passage rate (1.9%/h) and various trace elements disappearance rates, the effective ruminal solubilization (ERS) of trace elements were computed. The ERS across species ranged from 44.6 to 89.9% for Cu, 29.9 to 84% for Mn, 66 to 95.1% for Mo, and 30.1 to 82.3% for Zn resulting to a trend of Mo > Zn > Cu > Mn.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.42-47
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• 2005

The possibility of using Moringa oleifera as a ruminant protein supplement was investigated by comparison between nutritive and anti-nutritive value of its different morphological parts with that of conventionally used Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal (LL). Parameters determined were chemical composition, rumen degradable protein (RDP), acid detergent insoluble protein (ADIP), pepsin soluble protein (PESP), non-protein nitrogen (NPN) total soluble protein (TSP) and protein potentially digested in the intestine (PDI). Total phenols (TP) and total extractable tannins (TET) were also evaluated as anti-nutritive factors. In vitro gas production characteristics were measured and organic matter digestibility (OMD) was estimated basing on 24 h-gas production. Crude protein content ranged from 265-308 g/kg DM in M. oleifera leaves (MOL) and seed cake (MOC) respectively. Leucaena leucocephala and Moringa oleifera soft twigs and leaves (MOLSTL) had CP content of 236 and 195 g/kg DM while Moringa oleifera soft twigs alone (MOST) and Moringa oleifera bucks (MOB) had 160, 114 and 69.3 g/kg DM respectively. RDP was highest in (MOC) (181 g/kg DM) followed by (MOL) (177 g/kg DM) and was lowest in MOB (40 g/kg DM). The proportion of the protein that was not available to the animal (ADIP) was (p<0.05) higher in MOL and MOC (72 and 73 g/kg DM) respectively and lowest in LL (29 g/kg DM). The PDI was high in LL (74 g/kg DM) followed by MOC (55 g/kg DM) then MOL (16 g/kg DM). PESP was highest (p<0.05) in MOC followed by MOL then LL (273, 200 and 163 g/kg DM respectively). MOC exhibited highest NPN content (116 g/kg DM) and was lowest in MOB (18 g/kg DM) (p<0.05). Highly (p<0.05) TSP was observed in MOC and MOL (308 and 265 g/kg DM respectively) followed by LL (236 g/kg DM). MOL had negligible TET (20 g/kg DM) when compared with about 70 g/kg DM in LL. Highly (p<0.05) b and a+b values were observed for MOLSTL (602 and 691 g/kg DM respectively) followed by MOL (490 and 538 g/kg DM). Highest c value was observed in MOSTL followed by MOC and MOL (0.064, 0.056 and 0.053 rate/hour) respectively. OMD was highest (p<0.05) for MOSTL followed by MOC and then MOL (579, 579 and 562 g/kg DM respectively). LL exhibited lower (p<0.05) OMD (467 g/kg DM). It was concluded from this study that the high crude protein content in MOL and MOLST could be well utilized by ruminant animals and increase animal performance however, high proportion of unavailable protein to the lower gut of animals and high rumen degradable protein due to negligible tannin content render it a relatively poor protein supplement for ruminants. MOC can be a best alternative protein supplement to leaves and leaves and soft twigs for ruminants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제13권6호
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• pp.830-836
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• 2000

A participation scheme involving smallholder dairy farmers in improving dairy productivity through the use of local feeds, on-farm established feeds and crop residues was carried out in the Northeast, Thailand. At six milk collection centers, 63 farmers with 340 lactating cows participated in this research and demonstration of feed supplements. Farmers and cows were allotted to receive respective feed supplements: high-quality feed block (HQFB), high-quality feed pellet (HQFP), dried cassava leaf/cassava hay, dried leucaena leaf and cottonseed meal: 5% urea treated rice straw was fed as a source of roughage throughout the feeding period of the dry season. Trainings and workshops were organized by the researchers at the University, research station, demonstration sites and on-farms. Regular visits to the fartns by researchers and extension officers were made while discussions and demonstrations were performed in addition. Participating farmers also visited other farmers during the demonstration which offered a real practical perspective and farmer-to-farmer interaction. As a result of this participation and demonstration scheme, the farmers could learn more effectively and accepted the technology more readily, especially the practicality of the feed preparation, feed establishment, feeding method and feed reserve. Strategic supplementation of these feed supplements resulted in improving milk yield, milk quality, overall condition of the cows and higher income return through increased productivity and lower level use of concentrate to milk yield from 1:2 to 1:3 or lower. Based on this research and demonstration /participation scheme, all feed supplements enhanced productivity, however the establishment of cassava hay on fartns deserved more attention and warrants a wider developmental expansion among dairy farmers since it contained high rumen by-pass protein (tannin-protein complex) and could be easily produced and be sustainable on farms.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.465-474
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• 2010

The effects of four types of tropical protein-rich trees on nutrient digestibility, nitrogen (N) balance, urinary purine derivative (PD) excretion and blood metabolites in four Thai Brahman cattle (290${\pm}$2.5 kg) were studied. The animals were fed twice daily, with each feeding consisting of 1 kg (fresh weight) rice straw and one of the four dietary supplements: i) 1.98 kg oven-dried rain tree pods (RTP) and 20 g premix (RTPP), ii) 980 g RTP and 1 kg sun-dried leucaena leaves and 20 g premix (LLRT), iii) 980 g RTP and 1 kg sun-dried cassia leaves and 20 g premix (CLRT) and iv) 980 g RTP and 1 kg sun-dried mulberry leaves and 20 g premix (MLRT). The apparent dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) digestibilities were higher (p<0.05) in cattle fed the CLRT supplement than in those fed the other supplements, whilst the apparent digestibility of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) was higher (p<0.05) in cattle fed the CLRT and MLRT supplements than in those fed the other supplements. The N-balance of cattle fed LLRT and CLRT supplements was higher (p<0.05) than in cattle fed RTPP and MLRT supplements, whilst the apparent digestibility of N was highest (p<0.05) in cattle fed RTPP supplement, compared to the other supplements. Allantoin and PD excretion in the urine, and the ratios of allantoin/DOMI and PD/DOMI were higher (p<0.05) in cattle fed RTPP and MLRT than for those fed LLRT and CLRT supplements. Plasma ${\beta}$-hydroxy butyrate (${\beta}$-HBA) and insulin concentrations were higher (p<0.05) in cattle fed RTPP supplement than in those fed the other supplements. The study demonstrated the value of using local multipurpose trees (MPTs) to improve Brahman cattle feeding systems in the tropics.