Nutritional value of stargrass (Cynodon plectostachyus Schum. Pilg.) for small ruminants in Bukidnon [Philippines]
1998
Intong, R.L.
Established stargrass pasture was cut every 20, 30, and 40 days thereafter and identified as Treatment 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and hemicellulose (HMC) content during wet (June-Dec) and dry (Jan-April) season were measured. Treatment 3 has the highest DM production for wet season (39.67 t/ha; P less than .05) but no significant differences were observed in DM production during the dry season. DM content was highest in Treatment 3 both in wet (23.65 percent; P less than 0.1) and dry (29.28 percent; P less than .01) season cuttings. However, CP content was consistently higher in Treatment 1 both in wet (13.49 percent; P less than .01) and dry (12.29 percent; P less than .01) season harvests, while NDF and HMC content of stargrass did not differ significantly. ADF content of stargrass was consistently higher in Treatment 3 during wet (41.44 percent; P less than .01) and dry (45/57 percent; P.05) season cuttings. In vivo digestibility using castrated sheep were also conducted to determine which cutting treatment has the highest digestibility in terms of DM, CP, NDF, ADF and HMC. Stargrass cut every 20 days (Treatment 1) had the highest DM, CP, NDF, ADF and HMC digestibility (60.46 percent; 56.55 percent; 58.29 percent; and 68.91 percent, respectively) but significant difference (P less than .01) was observed only in DM digestibility. Average daily gain (ADG) feed efficiency (FE) and feed intake were also studied using both sheep and goats for stargrass cut at 30 days. Significant differences were observed in terms of daily DM intake (P less than .05), ADG (P less than .05) and FE (P less than .05). Sheep has lower daily DM intake (354.29 g vs. 363.10 g), but had better FE (12.36 vs. 13.73 g) and ADG (28.76 g vs. 26.61 g) as compared to goats. Intake expressed in percent body weight and in g feed/kg metabolic body weight (BW sup 0.75) were not statistically significant. Percent DM intake based on body weight is higher in sheep (2.95 percent vs. 2.90 percent) than in goats, and intake expressed in g feed/kg metabolic body weight followed the same trend. Sheep consumed 54.98 g feed per kilogram metabolic body weight compared to 54.71 g for goat
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