The research was conducted in of Tanete village, Anggeraja sub district, Enrekang district South Sulawesi. The objective of this research was to determine the effect of feed improvement to increase milk production of lactating dairy cow. This research was carried out with a completely randomized design using 12 lactating dairy cows which divided into 3 treatments with 4 replications: (A) 60% of elephant grass + 30% corn straw + 10% local formula concentrate; (B) 30% of elephant grass + 60% corn straw + 10% local formula concentrate; and (C) Controls. The results showed that milk production obtained during the feeding period reached the highest improvement in treatment B and A with an average milk production of 7.66 and 6.90 l/cow/day respectively. The lowest one was C (control) that produved 4.90 l/cow/day. The analysis of farming showed that treatment B had the highest profit (Rp. 6,778/cow/day), followed by the treatment A (Rp. 3,962/cow/day) and the treatment C (Rp 1,030/cow/day). It can be concluded that feed improvement in lactating dairy cows with grass, fermented corn straw and the addition of concentrates was good combination to increase milk production in lactating dairy cows.

No abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the use of biochar as a feed additive on nutrient utilization and livestock performance by employing a meta-analysis method. Various in vitro and in vivo studies regarding the effects of biochar on rumen fermentation, nutrient disappearance, total gas, methane production, microbial population, feed intake, growth performance, blood constituents, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention were tabulated in a database. Data were analysed using the mixed model method in which the different studies were considered as random effects while the biochar addition was treated as a fixed effect. The addition of biochar reduced methane production (quadratic pattern; P < 0.05), but increased the total gas production (P < 0.001). Addition of biochar decreased (quadratic pattern; P < 0.05) volatile fatty acids and acetic acid in the in vitro rumen fermentation data. In the in vivo data, a reduction in feed conversion ratio (quadratic pattern; P < 0.05), as well as a reduction (P < 0.05) in the feed intake parameters of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, and neutral detergent fibre were observed with biochar addition. Ammonia production and propionic acid tended to increase linearly (P < 0.05) with the biochar supplementation. The biochar supplementation increased (P < 0.05) the nutrient digestibility (dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fibre) and nitrogen retention. In conclusion, biochar supplementation of ruminant diet modulates rumen fermentation by increasing propionic acid but decreasing methane emissions, and enhances livestock performance by increasing nutrient digestibility, growth performance as well as nitrogen retention.

The study aimed to determine the effect of elephant grass silage combined with different levels of Indigofera sp. on body weight gain, intake and feed conversion ratio. Twenty-five individually caged Bali cattle were used in this study, allocated to five treatment groups consisting of five animals in each group following a randomized complete design. The treatments were T1: elephant grass silage 100% + Indigofera sp. 0%; T2: elephant grass silage 70% + Indigofera sp. 30%; T3: elephant grass silage 60% + Indigofera sp. 40%; T4: elephant grass silage 50% + Indigofera sp. 50%; and T5: elephant grass silage 40% + Indigofera sp. 60%. Variables measured were the quality of silage and the performance of Bali cattle fed various dietary treatments. The results showed that the physical characteristics of silage were similar for all treatments. The silage was brown to greenish in colour, had minimum odour from the formation of lactic acid, had solid texture, and was compact. There was no mould growth in the silage, and pH ranged from 3.7 to 4.1. Increasing levels of Indigofera sp. added to elephant grass increased the crude protein content of silage, but decreased the content of ash, acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin by up to 40%. Dry matter intake per kg unit of BW was higher (P < 0.000) in the T2, T3, and T4 diet than in the T1 or T5 diets. The crude protein intake per kg unit of BW was higher (P<0.000) in the T3, T4, T5 diet than T1 and T2. Animals on the T3 diet showed a higher (P < 0.05) daily BW gain followed by the animals on the T4 and T5 diets. It can be concluded that the combination of 60% elephant grass and 40% Indigofera sp. has the best physical and chemical qualities and is able to increase the daily body weight of Bali cattle.

The formulation of glyphosate composed of Isopropylamine salt and Polyethoxylated tallow Amine (Clearweed) is widely used as herbicide to control weeds both in the terrestrial and aquatic environments. A static bioassay was conducted to examine toxicity of this formulation on juvenile African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Catfish juvenile (mean weight 27.97±0.03g) were exposed to glyphosate at concentrations of 0.00mg/l (control), 5.00, 7.50, 10.00, 12.50 and 15.00mg/l. Each concentration was treated in triplicate and the exposure period lasted for 96 hrs. Mortality rates and physico-chemical parameters of water were monitored. Results revealed that fish mortality increased with increasing concentration of glyphosate and time of exposure. The median lethal concentration (96-hr LC50) value was 8.88mg/l with the upper and lower limits of 9.10mg/l and 7.75mg/l respectively. Behavioural changes observed the treated fish included: erratic swimming, jerky movement, increased opercula and tail movements, gulping of air, lost of balance and consciousness, cessation of opercula and tail movement signifying eventual death. Water quality parameters increased significantly (p<0.05) with extract concentration except dissolve oxygen levels which reduced (p<0.05). However, all values reported were within the permissible limits of the Federal Ministry of Environment (FMEnv) for water samples. The results of this study indicated that glyphosate formulation has toxic effects on catfish. Thus, the herbicide should be cautiously used to avoid ecotoxicological hazards particularly on non-target organisms.