Amount of Cassava Powder Fed as a Supplement Affects Feed Intake and Live Weight Gain in Laisind Cattle in Vietnam

Nguyen Xuan Ba,Nguyen Huu Van,Peter T Doyle,Clare M Leddin,Le Duc Ngoan

doi:10.5713/ajas.2008.70479

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in Vietnam to test the hypothesis that supplementation with cassava powder up to 2% of live weight (LW)/d (DM basis) would linearly increase digestible organic matter intake and LW gain of Laisind cattle. There were five treatments: a basal diet of elephant grass fed at 1.25% of LW and rice straw fed ad libitum or this diet supplemented with cassava powder, containing 2% urea, at about 0.3, 0.7, 1.3 or 2.0% LW. The cattle fed cassava powder at about 2.0% LW did not consume all of the supplement, with actual intake similar to the 1.3% LW treatment. Organic matter, digestible organic matter and digestible energy intakes increased (p<0.001) curvilinearly with increased consumption of cassava powder. Rice straw intake declined curvilinearly with increasing intake of cassava powder (p<0.001), and there was a small linear decline (p = 0.01) in grass intake. The substitution rate of cassava powder for forage was between 0.5 and 0.7 kg DM reduction in forage intake per kg DM supplement consumed, with no difference between treatments. Apparent digestibility of organic matter increased (p<0.001) in a curvilinear manner, while digestibility of neutral detergent fibre declined (p<0.001) in a curvilinear manner with increased consumption of cassava powder. Live weight gain increased (p<0.01) linearly with increased consumption of supplement. It was concluded that the amount of cassava powder fed should be limited to between 0.7 and 1.0% LW.

Highlights

Such as elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), and where animals are largely kept in confinement
About 424,000 ha of cassava (Manihot esculenta) is grass and rice straw will only meet the maintenance grown in Vietnam, producing 6.6 million metric tonne requirements of cattle, as they are usually low in (General Statistics Office, 2006), and it is used for starch metabolisable energy and protein
Ba et al (2005) found that cassava powder, rice associative effects when fed in significant quantities, bran and maize were the important supplements fed to cattle. whereby the digestibility of forage components are

Summary

Introduction

Such as elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), and where animals are largely kept in confinement. About 424,000 ha of cassava (Manihot esculenta) is grass and rice straw will only meet the maintenance grown in Vietnam, producing 6.6 million metric tonne requirements of cattle, as they are usually low in (General Statistics Office, 2006), and it is used for starch metabolisable energy and protein. Ba et al (2005) found that cassava powder, rice associative effects when fed in significant quantities, bran and maize were the important supplements fed to cattle. There is graze native grasses during the day and are fed rice straw no published information from central Vietnam on the (Oryza sativa) at night for most months throughout the year effects of different amounts of cassava powder on forage (Ba et al, 2005). There are other systems where the basal intake, diet digestibility and liveweight gain of Laisind feed includes cut and carry native grasses or sown species, cattle, a crossbreed of Red Sindhi and Vietnamese yellow cattle

Methods

Results

Conclusion