Keynote paper presented at the International Leucaena Conference, 1‒3 November 2018, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.Leucaena can be fed as the sole diet to fattening cattle without nutritional problems and it will promote high liveweight gains. The high crude protein concentration in leucaena suggests that energy supplements, which are readily fermented in the rumen, could be used to capture the excess rumen degradable protein and provide more microbial protein and metabolizable energy to the animal, further increasing liveweight gain or milk production. This approach has been tested in grazing cattle and also in cut-and-carry systems in Australia and Indonesia. In both systems, production (liveweight gain or milk production) increased with the addition of supplements containing large amounts of fermentable meta- bolizable energy. The substitution of the basal diet (leucaena or leucaena mixed with grass or crop residues) by the supplement also means that more animals can be carried in the system for a set amount or area of leucaena. The same principles would apply to any tree legume-based system. Energy supplements can come in many forms, viz. fermentable starch (cereal grains and cassava), sugars (molasses), pectins (soybean hulls and pulps) and fibre (rice bran, cassava bagasse), but they have not been compared for their efficacy nor for their economic benefit, if any, in these systems.
Three experiments were conducted to determine liveweight (W) gain and feed and water intake of weaned Bali cattle offered a range of feed types. In each experiment, 18 weaned entire male Bali cattle were allocated to three treatment groups in a completely randomised block design, with six replicates (animals) per treatment. The dietary treatments were: Experiment 1, native grass fed ad libitum, native grass supplemented with rice bran at 10 g dry matter (DM)/kg W.day and native grass supplemented with a mixture of rice bran and copra meal in equal proportions fed at 10 g DM/kg W.day; Experiment 2, elephant grass hay fed ad libitum, elephant grass supplemented with gliricidia at 10 g DM/kg W.day, and gliricidia fed ad libitum; and Experiment 3, corn stover fed ad libitum, corn stover supplemented with gliricidia at 10 g DM/kg W.day, and corn stover supplemented with rice bran/copra meal in equal amounts (w/w) at 10 g DM/kg W.day. Each experiment was 10 weeks in duration, consisting of a 2-week preliminary period for adaptation to diets and an 8-week experimental period for the measurement of W change, feed and water intake and digestibility of the diet. Growth rates of 6–12-month-old, entire male Bali cattle fed a range of local diets ranged from 0.10 and 0.40 kg/day. Lowest growth rates occurred when the cattle were given the basal diets of native grass (0.104 kg/day), elephant grass (0.174 kg/day) and corn stover (0.232 kg/day). With the addition of supplements such as rice bran, rice bran/copra meal or gliricidia to these basal diets liveweight gains increased to between 0.225 and 0.402 kg/day. Forage DM intake was reduced with these supplements by on average 22.6% while total DM intake was increased by an average of 10.5%. The growth rate on gliricidia alone was 0.269 kg/day and feed DM intake was 28.0 g/kg W.day. Water intake was not affected by supplement type or intake. In conclusion, inclusion of small quantities of locally available, high quality feed supplements provide small-holder farmers with the potential to increase growth rates of Bali calves from 0.1 to 0.2 kg/day, under prevailing feeding scenarios, to over 0.4 kg/day.
Context Formulating rations with high energy and protein feeds such as cassava tuber and gliricidia, is an important strategy to increase liveweight gain (LWG) of bulls and improve profitability of smallholder farmers in Indonesia. Aims Two on-farm experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of increasing the supplementation level of a mixture of cassava (Manihot esculenta) whole root tuber powder and fresh gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) on feed intake and LWG of Ongole and Bali bulls given fresh corn stover and elephant grass, respectively. Methods Two experiments were conducted, each with five treatments: a basal diet of fresh corn stover (Experiment 1 for Ongole bulls) or elephant grass (Experiment 2 for Bali bulls) fed ad libitum or this diet supplemented with a combination of cassava tuber (whole root tuber including peel, sun-dried and ground) and fresh, chopped gliricidia (1:1) on estimated dry matter (DM) basis, at DM levels of 0.4, 0.8, 1,2 and 1.6% liveweight (LW)/day. Each experiment was run for 18 weeks, consisting of a two week adaptation and 16 week experimental period. Parameters measured included basal DM intake, supplement DM intake, total DM intake, total water intake, faecal pH, daily LWG, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and income over feed cost (IOFC). Key results Increasing supplement level linearly (P < 0.05) decreased basal diet intake, but linearly increased total DM intake and LWG (P < 0.05) in both breeds. Basal diet DM intake was reduced at the rate of 0.43 kg/kg of supplement DM consumed for both Ongole and Bali bulls. Water intake and faecal pH were not affected (P > 0.05) by increasing supplement intake. Inclusion of cassava tuber and gliricidia supplement up to 1.6% LW/day, increased total feed DM intake (up to 3.28 and 3.18% LW/day, for Ongole and Bali bulls, respectively) and LWG (maximum Ongole bulls 0.69 kg/day and Bali bulls 0.46 kg/day). Daily income over feed cost (IOFC) increased significantly (P < 0.05) in association with increased supplement intake in both Experiments 1 and 2. Using the derived model without supplementation, the value of IOFC was only IDR 7802/day and IDR 7687/day, for Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. The highest IOFC was achieved at a supplement intake of 1.6% LW/day with values of IDR 13949/day and IDR 12543/day for Experiments 1 and 2 respectively. Conclusions The addition of a cassava tuber and gliricidia mixture up to 1.6% LW/day increased LWG and profit for smallholders fattening bulls. Implications Formulating a ration with cassava tuber and gliricidia can be economically beneficial in cattle fattening systems in Indonesia.
We evaluated the precision and accuracy of equations from the Australian Ruminant Feeding Standards (ARFS) and the Large Ruminant Nutrition System (LRNS) in predicting the performance of Ongole (Bos indicus) cattle under Indonesian conditions. A database was constructed using information from 121 cattle in five different pen-feeding experiments. Cattle included mature cows and growing bulls, and they were fed a range of diets commonly used by Indonesian farmers. We compared observed and predicted dry matter intake and daily liveweight gain. Model predictions were evaluated for precision and accuracy using mean bias, mean square prediction error and regression of observed against predicted values. Across all experiments, the LRNS provided the better estimates of intake and growth. While both models included animal age, sex, weight and body condition score, the LRNS provided better estimates of metabolisable energy requirements for maintenance of liveweight, feed quality and efficiency of energy utilisation. The LRNS model also better accounted for environmental conditions by including correction factors for minimum night temperature and relative humidity, in addition to average daily temperatures. Based on our results, the LRNS model appears suitable for use in Indonesian beef-production systems.
Improving the productivity and profitability of smallholder cattle enterprises in Indonesia requires greater and more efficient utilisation of underutilised feed resources such as rice straw. The experiment tested the hypothesis that an Ongole cow with low energy requirements can maintain weight (W) on a rice straw-based diet with the addition of a small amount of tree legumes. Thirty-two Ongole cross (Bos indicus) cows were allocated to one of four treatments in a randomised block design with eight cows per treatment. Cows were offered untreated rice straw ad libitum with four levels of tree legumes (0, 11, 21, and 42 g DM/kg W0.75.day) for 20 weeks. Feed intake was determined daily and liveweight was measured every second week. There was no difference in total feed intake between the treatment groups (P > 0.05). Intake of tree legumes was higher when more was offered (P < 0.05), but cows did not consume all of the legumes offered to them. The inclusion of tree legumes in the diet had no effect on organic matter digestibility, ME content of the diet, liveweight gain or estimated energy balance of the cows (P > 0.05). Rice straw alone contained insufficient ME and rumen-degradable N to meet the maintenance requirements of the cows. From the regression relating liveweight change and ME intake for all cows across all diets, the inclusion of tree legumes in the diet at ~12 g DM/kg W0.75.day or 2.8 g DM/kg W.day was enough to meet the energy requirements for maintenance of Ongole cows fed rice straw ad libitum.
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