Effects of Sago Palm Pith as Replacement for Corn Grain on Intake, Rumen Fermentation Characteristics and Microbial N Supply of Cattle Fed Paspalum plicatulum Hay

Abstract

To investigate the effects of sago palm pith (SPP) substitution of corn in the diets on intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation characteristics, nitrogen balance and microbial N Supply, five ruminally fistulated Southern indigenous cattle (mean initial BW = 226±5 kg) were randomly assigned to a 5×5 Latin Square Design to receive five diets, T 1 = concentrate with 0% SPP, T 2 = 25% SPP, T 3 = 50% SPP, T 4 = 75% SPP and T 5 = 100% SPP, of dietary dry matter, respectively. Plicatulum hay (PH) was offered ad libitum as the roughage. A metabolism trial lasted for 21 days during which liveweight changes and feed intakes were measured. Based on this experiment, there were no significant differences (p>0.05) among treatments groups regarding total DM intake (OMI, NDFI and ADFI) and digestion coefficients of nutrients (DM, OM, CP, NDF and ADF), while total DM intake (% BW) was significantly (p<0.05) higher as higher levels of SPP were incorporated into diets. Rumen parameters (ruminal temperature, pH, glucose, packed cell volume, volatile fatty acid and rumen microorganism populations) were similar among treatments (p>0.05), whereas NH 3 -N, blood urea nitrogen and molar proportion of propionate concentrations were significantly (p<0.05) higher as higher levels of SPP were incorporated into diets. The amount of N absorption, N retention and microbial protein synthesis were similar among treatments. These results indicate that SPP can be included in diets for Southern indigenous cattle to supply up to 100% of supplemental corn when fed with PH without negative impact on animal performance and it was a good approach in exploiting the use of local feed resources for beef cattle production.

Effect of cooking time and urea level on dry matter loss, nitrogen fixation and digestibility of dry matter, organic matter in vitro in the combined products of urea-pith Gewang (Corypha Utan Lamk.) starch

“…The presence of O-H groups in starch that captures N-H groups in urea so that interactions occur through hydrogen bonds so that the release of the product becomes synchronized. According to Chanjula and Ngampongsai [9], sago from the stem content of palm plants is an excellent source of easily degradable starch and has the potential to improve the performance of ruminants. Gewang (Corypha utan Lamk.)…”