Performance of Aceh cattle fed by concentrate with different levels

Abstract

Aceh cattle are traditionally maintained in smallholder farmers that only rely on forage as a single feed. Concentrate supplementation is then needed to fulfill the nutrients requirement. This study was aimed to measure the performance of Aceh Cattle fed by forage and concentrate as supplementation in different levels. The study was conducted in Livestock Breeding Center for Excellent and Forage Animal Feed (BPTU-HPT) Indrapuri Aceh using 20 male Aceh Cattle aged 1.5-2.5 years. The cattle were intensively kept for 90 days and grouped based on feeding proportion of forage and concentrate with different levels, i.e., T1=100:0 as a control, T2=70:30, T3=50:50, and T4=30:70 on dry matter-based. The cattle were weighed every month and feed intake was measured. Data were analyzed by one way of ANOVA, followed by Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test. The results showed that feed intake, feed efficiency, body weight gain and average daily gain of T1 was the lowest (P <0.05). The average daily gain of T3 and T4 did not significantly differ. There was a significant difference between T1 and T2. Concentrate supplementation improved the feed intake and growth performances of Aceh Cattle. The best level of concentrate supplementation on forage feed was 50:50.