• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1280-1284
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• 2003

The number of protozoa and VFA content in the rumen fluid, in situ disappearance and turnover rate were examined with four rumen-fistulated cattle given either sugarcane stalk or Ruzi grass hay in order to clarify the manner of rumen digestion of sugarcane stalk. Cattle were given either sugarcane stalk or Ruzi grass hay at 1.0% of body weight level with commercial concentrate feed. Feeding sugarcane stalk reduced acetate content and increased propionate and butyrate contents in rumen fluid. While rapidlysoluble fraction of sugarcane stalk was 42%, the insoluble but potentially degradable fraction was only 17%. This clearly showed that sugarcane stalk mainly consisted of water soluble fraction (i.e. sugar) and tough fiber (i.e. bagasse). The ruminal degradation rate of both Ruzi grass hay and sugarcane stalk was lower in the animal given sugarcane stalk in comparison with those given Ruzi grass hay. While the turnover rate of liquid phase was about 50% higher in the animals given sugarcane stalk than in the animals given Ruzi grass hay, that of the solid phase was about 40% lower in the animals given sugarcane stalk. The effective degradability of DM of sugarcane stalk was higher than that of Ruzi grass hay. Sugarcane would be a promising roughage for ruminants in the tropics especially, in the dry season.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.986-991
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• 2002

An experiment was conducted at Suwanvajokkasikit Research Station, Pakchong, Nakornratchasima, Thailand, to determine the yield and quality of three different grass cultivars intercropped with leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala). The treatments consisted of three grass cultivars (ruzi, dwarf napier and Taiwan A25) as the main plots, planted between leucaena at three row spacings (1, 2 and 4 m width) as the sub plots and leucaena cutting height (10 and 25 cm above ground levels) as sub-sub-plots. Dwarf napier consistently produced more dry matter than Taiwan A25 or ruzi and Taiwan A25 outyielded ruzi. Leucaena yield was highest in the ruzi plot and lowest in the dwarf napier plot. However, yields of grass plus leucaena were highest in the dwarf napier plot and were lowest in the ruzi plots. The difference was due mainly to the grass components. Increasing the spacing between rows of leucaena resulted in a lower leucaena yield but the reverse was true for the grasses. Cutting of leucaena at 10 cm above ground levels depressed yields of leucaena but did not affect the associated grasses. In terms of herbage quality, it was found that the crude protein of leaves and stems of the dwarf napier and Taiwan A25 were higher than that of the ruzi grass. Leucaena gave higher levels of crude protein than all grasses. The phosphorus and potassium levels of all grasses were higher than leucaena. ADF levels were higher in the grasses than in the legumes. Nutrient contents in the leaves and stems of grasses and leucaena were not affected by leucaena spacing and cutting height.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1171-1177
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• 2008

The performance of growing rabbits fed Ruzi grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis), head lettuce (Lactuca sativa) residue, Mimosa pigra and water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) was studied in an experiment using 64 rabbits (4 males and 4 females per treatment) of 2 breeds, New Zealand White and a crossbred between New Zealand White and native breed. The rabbits had an average initial weight of 668 g, were about 6 weeks old and were housed in individual pens. The foliages were fed ad libitum and a commercial concentrate was fed at a restricted level of 2% of body weight on a dry matter (DM) basis. In the digestibility experiment, the rabbits, 4 per foliage and males only, were fed the same foliages as in the growth experiment but without concentrate. Daily weight gain was lower in the group fed Ruzi grass, 14.8 g/d (p<0.001) compared to 17.6, 18.5 and 18.4 g/d for head lettuce, Mimosa pigra and water spinach, respectively. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio were lowest for the rabbits fed water spinach, 66 g DM/d and 3.6 kg DM/kg live weight, respectively. The New Zealand White breed had a higher daily gain than the crossbred rabbits (p<0.05), 18.0 and 16.7 g/d, respectively. There were no significant differences in feed intake, growth or feed conversion ratio due to sex. The digestibility coefficients of DM, organic matter, crude protein, crude fiber, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber were significantly lower (p<0.001) in the rabbits fed Ruzi grass. Breed and sex had no effect on digestibility. In conclusion, feeding head lettuce residue, Mimosa pigra and water spinach resulted in higher growth rate and digestibility than feeding Ruzi grass and can be recommended as alternative feeds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.1084-1093
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• 2000

An in vitro gas production system was used to investigate the influence of various substrate mixtures on a natural mix of rumen microbes by measurement of fermentation end-products. The treatments were combinations of cassava (15.0, 30.0 and 45.0%) with different roughage sources (ruzi grass, rice straw or urea treated rice straw). Microbial biomass, net $^{15}N$ incorporation into cells, volatile fatty acid production, gas volume and rate of gas production increased linearly with increasing levels of cassava inclusion. There was also an effect of roughage source, with rice straw being associated with the lowest values for most parameters whilst similar values were obtained for ruzi grass and urea treated rice straw. The results suggest that microbial growth and fermentation rate increase as a function of readily available carbohydrate in the substrate mixture. A strong linear relationship between $^{15}N$ enrichment, total volatile fatty acid production and gas production kinetics support the suggestion of the use of the in vitro gas production system as a tool for screening feedstuffs as an initial stage of feed evaluation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.695-698
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• 2006

Six, one-year old dairy steers were randomly divided into two groups according to a Completely randomized design (CRD) to receive high-quality feed block (HQFB) without cassava hay and drenching (HQFB1+Ivomex) and HQFB with cassava hay (HQFB2) as block licks while grazing on Ruzi grass pasture. During the eight weeks, fecal parasitic egg counts dramatically declined for both treatment groups with 63.2 and 27.6% reduction from initial period for HQFB1+Ivomex and HQFB2, respectively. However, digestion of coefficients of nutrients particularly OM, were significantly higher in HQFB2 than, those in HQFB1+Ivomex, in addition, ADG of animals in HQFB2 tended to be higher than the group on HQFB1. It was, hence concluded that cassava hay could not only provide as a protein source but also serve as an anthelmintic in ruminants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.901-903
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• 1999

Twenty-four multiparous crossbred Friesian dairy cows (60-90 days in lactation) were randomly assigned into a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design. Factors were two levels of concentrate supplementation (1:2, high vs 1:1.2, very high; concentrate:milk yield) and two levels of high-quality feed block (HQFB) supplementation (non vs ad libitum block licking). Ruzi grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis) was fed as a roughage throughout the 70 day feeding trial. High level of concentrate fed group resulted in higher roughage and HQFB intakes, compared with very high concentrate supplemented group. HQFB supplementation tended to increase roughage intake and significantly improved milk yield (2 kg/hd/d in high concentrate supplementation) and quality (% fat) which resulted in higher economical return. HQFB was recommended to be used as a strategic supplement in lactating dairy cows especially when fed on low-quality roughages or crop residues.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.1329-1336
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• 2000

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of Murrah buffalo cows pulling sledges under field conditions on milk production and milk composition. In Exp. 1, 24 buffaloes in the fourth month of lactation were used. They were allotted to four treatments according to a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement: work or no work, and with or without urea-molasses cake supplementation (700 g/animal/day). Feeds consisted of 20 kg fresh elephant grass (18% DM), 2 kg rice bran per day and rice straw ad lib. The animals worked in pairs three hours per day (work done: $3464{\pm}786kJ/d$) five days a week for three months. Three teams worked in the morning and the others worked in the afternoon in the same day. The following day the working times were switched. In Exp. 2, 16 lactating Murrah buffalo cows in the sixth month of lactation were allotted to two groups (work and no work). They were fed with fresh ruzi grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis) ad lib. supplemented with 2 kg rice bran and 700 g urea-molasses cake. The working regime was similar to that of the first experiment (work done: $3753{\pm}879kJ/d$) and they worked for two months. In the first experiment, there was a small but significant drop (p<0.05) in milk yield from 3.5 to 3.0 kg/day due to work, but there was no supplementation effect. The working buffaloes lost 5.2 kg whereas the non-working animals gained 9.7 kg during the three months (p<0.05). Supplementation increased live weight by 9.9 kg as compared to -5.4 kg for those not supplemented (p<0.05). Milk composition was not affected by the treatments. In the second experiment, daily milk production was similar for both treatments and approximately 3 kg. No significant differences were found in milk composition or in live weight changes for working and non-working groups, respectively. It was concluded that work may cause a reduction in milk yield and a loss of live weight on a poor rice straw diet but that an appropriate supplementation can alleviate this situation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.600-604
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• 2000

Exp. I, the study was conducted to examine the supplementation levels of cassava hay (CH) in dairy cows. Six multiparous Holstein-Friesian crossbreds were paired and randomly assigned in a change-over design to receive three levels of CH supplement at 0, 0.8 and 1.7 kg DM/hd/d. Concentrate was supplemented at the same level (1:2; concentrate:milk yield) while urea-treated (5%) rice straw was offered on ad libitum basis. The results revealed that supplementation of CH could significantly reduce concentrate use resulting in similar milk yield (12.5, 12.12 and 12.6 kg/hd/d) and significantly enhanced 3.5% FCM (14.21, 15.70, 14.9 kg/d, respectively). Moreover, CH supplementation significantly increased milk fat and milk protein percentages especially at 1.70 kg/hd/d. Concentrate use could be significantly reduced by 27% at 1.7 kg/hd/d CH supplementation. Exp. II, supplementation of cassava hay to replace concentrate use was studied in lactating-Holstein Friesian crossbreds grazed on Ruzi grass. Six multiparous cows in mid-lactating periods were paired and randomly assiged according to a change-over-design to receive three dietary treatments, $T_1=0kg$ cassava hay (CH) in 1:2 concentrate supplementation (CS) to milk yield (MY), $T_2=1.0kg$ DM CH/hd/d in 1:3 CS to MY, $T_3=1.7kg$ DM CH/hd/d in 1:4 CS to MY, respectively. The results were found that milk yield were similar among treatments while protein, lactose and solids-not-fat percentages were highest (p<0.05) in cows receiving CH at 1.0 kgjhd/d. Most significant improvement from CH supplementation was the ability to reduce concentrate use by 42% which could provide a higher income for small-holder dairy farmers. In addition, milk thiocyanate was enhanced from 5.3 to 17.8 ppm (p<0.05) in the control and in the CH supplemented group (1.7 kg/hd/d), respectively. Moreover, CH supplementation could significantly reduce concentrate level for diary feeding thus resulted in more economical return. Cassava hay demonstrated as a potential and high-quality on-farm feed resource especially for dry season feeding in the tropics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.670-677
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• 2004

Sixteen multiparous Holstein-Friesian crossbred cows in mid-lactation were blocked according to days in milk (DIM) and previous lactation and randomly assigned according to a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) design with four replications to receive four dietary treatments. The dietary treatments consisted of T1: No cassava hay (CH) or stylo 184 hay (SH) supplementation, supplementation of concentrate to milk yield at 1:2 (control), T2: Supplementation of 1 kg of CH/hd/d, supplementation of concentrate to milk yield at 1:2, T3: Supplementation of 1 kg of CH+SH/hd/d, supplementation of concentrate to milk yield at 1:2, T4: Supplementation of 2 kg of CH+SH/hd/d, supplementation of concentrate to milk yield at 1:3. All animals received Ruzi grass from a cut-and-carry system as roughage source. The feeding trial lasted for 9 weeks. The results revealed that DMI of concentrate of supplemented treatments were significantly lower (p<0.05) than those in the control, but there was no significant difference between T2 and T3. There was no significant difference in forage DM intake between the control and supplemented treatments. CP and NDF digestibility of supplemented treatments were significantly (p<0.05) greater than the control and there were no significant differences among supplemented treatments. Milk yield and 3.5% FCM (14.3, 14.5, 14.7 and 14.8; 13.9, 14.3, 14.3 and 14.6 kg/hd/d, respectively) were not significantly different among treatments. Milk protein percentage of supplemented treatments was significantly (p<0.05) higher than the control, but there were no significant differences among supplemented treatments. There was no significant difference in milk fat percentage between the control and supplemented treatments. However, milk fat percentage tended to be higher for supplemented animals as compared to the control group. There were also no significant differences in lactose, solids-not-fat and total solids percentages among treatments. Cows in supplemented treatments gave incomes over supplement cost (IOSC) of 2.72, 2.74 and 2.93 US$/hd/d, respectively which were greater than for cows on control treatment. Furthermore, IOSC were greatest for cows in T4 as compared to other treatments. Based on this study it was concluded that, feeding cassava hay solely or in combination with stylo 184 hay as a supplemental protein source could be a potential valuable strategy in small-holder dairy farming systems in the tropics. This strategic supplementation significantly reduced concentrate use, which resulted in improved milk yields and milk quality for the supplemented cows. Moreover, it resulted in higher economical returns through increased productivity and lower ratios of concentrate to milk yield, from 1:2 to 1:3.