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.

Research on gingers and their traditional uses by three different indigenous ethnic groups at Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia was carried out from February to June 2018. The objectives of the research was to gain information about the diversity of the family Zingiberaceae and its traditional uses by the Topo Baria, Toi Toro Muma and To Kaili Ledo people. Key informants were traditional healers (sando), traditional leaders (adat), community leaders, village leaders, religion leaders, government officers and crafts-people. The interviews were recorded using audio recorders and notebooks. Samples of plants were collected and photographed while recording the information. Response was obtained by “Snowball technique”. A total of 24 species of Zingiberaceae were used of which 19 were determined to species level. Eight species were collected from natural forest, while 14 were recorded from agricultural habitat. Four of the species were endemic to Sulawesi (Alpinia eremochlamys, A. rubricaulis, Etlingera acanthodes and E. flexuosa). Fourteen species were not native to Sulawesi but widely cultivated in the region. The information about the uses by the Topo Baria was not adequate whereas the contrary the Toi Toro Muma and To Kaili Ledo used several species for various daily purposes, such as medicine, spice, cosmetics, ornamentals, or to be eat freshly.

No abstract

Background: Zingiberaceae is one of the significant components of the herbaceous ground flora of Southeast Asia tropical forests. This family includes some medicinally important species, in particular the members of genera of Alpinia, Curcuma, Etlingera and Zingiber (Van Balgooy, 2001). Objective: to identify the traditional usages and evaluate for phytochemical screening of selected Zingiberaceae from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Material and Methods: Zingiberaceae samples were collected from the Lore Lindu National Park (LLNP), Central Sulawesi Indonesia and its surroundings and evaluated for their phytochemical contents by using TLC method with particular spraying reagents. Results: the plants were used by the local ethnics for different daily and medicinal purposes. All part of each selected species of Zingiberaceae contain flavonoid, tannins, saponins, triterpenoid and alkaloid although steroids were only found in the leaves of Etlingera flexuosa, Curcuma mangga and Alpinia galanga. Alkaloids were only found in the rhyzome of Etlingera flexuosa, Curcuma aerugynosa, Zingiber montanum. Besides it was also detected in leaves of both Alpinia rubricaulis and Etlingera acanthoides. Additionally, Alkaloids were also discovered in the stem of Ammomum aculeata, Alpinia galanga and Curcuma mangga.

This study aimed to increase the nutritional value of oil palm empty bunches (EFB) as ruminant animal feed by using biological treatment. To achieve this, five fungi species were used, including Trametes Versicolor, Lentinula edodes, Coprinus comatus, Pleurotus sajor-caju, and Trichoderma sp, which were inoculated for 20 days. Furthermore, the study consisted of 2 stages, in the first, the five species were tested for their degradability to lignin. In the second, the results were analyzed for their degradation ability by treating several numbers of inoculums (0.5 ml, 0.75 ml, and 1.0 ml) at different incubation times (20, 30, and 40 days). The results showed that the fungi treatment gave different lignin levels of oil palm empty fruit bunches compared to others. Furthermore, treatment with Coprinus comatus fungi produced the lowest lignin and the highest cellulose levels than others. This species works well compared to other fungi in the delignification of oil palm empty fruit bunches. With the use of Coprinus comatus, the lowest lignin and highest cellulose levels were obtained in a 0.5 ml inoculum treatment and at 30 days incubation time, however, there was no interaction. Conclusively, this study indicated that the application of Coprinus comatus to oil palm empty fruit bunches reduces lignin levels and increases cellulose by 22.04% and 20%, respectively. Consequently, there is an improved nutritional value of oil palm empty fruit bunches.