Ensiling property and nutritional quality of palmyrah (<i>Borassus flabellifer</i>) leaves incorporated corn (<i>Zea mays</i>) or sorghum (<i>Sorghum bicolor</i> (L.) moench) silage

Abstract

A laboratory experiment was designed to examine the effects of inclusion of palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) leaves on the ensiling and nutritional quality of silage prepared with forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) moench) or corn (Zea mays). Corn and sorghum were replaced with different proportions of palmyrah leaves (viz. 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% (w/w)) in fresh matter basis in preparing eight treatments for the experiment where silage prepared with only corn or sorghum were considered as controls (viz. 0% palmyrah leaves). Silage was packed air tightly in laboratory silos and kept for four weeks in a temperature controlled room at 30  C. Chemical composition and ensiling parameters were determined using standard procedures. Dry matter, crude fiber, pH and water soluble carbohydrate contents of the silage increased with the increase of palmyrah leaves, but ash and lactic acid contents decreased. Further, the increase of palmyrah leaves increased (p < 0.05) the crude protein content of corn silages but decreased (p < 0.05) the crude protein content of sorghum silages. The results revealed that the treatment of 10% replacement with palmyrah leaves was acceptable when the chemical composition and ensiling parameters of silage were considered. Therefore, a mixture of 10% palmyrah leaves with corn or sorghum is recommended for making quality silages.

Evaluation of a newly formulated organic fertilizer on growth and yield of curry chilli (<em>Capsicum Frutescens</em> L.)

“…However, nitrogen and phosphorus uptake was not increased. N, P and K content of coconut leaf was reported as 1.74, 0.1 and 1.24 %, respectively, under recommended inorganic fertilizer treatments (Maheswarappa et al, 2014), while the Palmyrah leaf had a moderate level of N (1.62 -2.3% N) and a moderate level of P (0.2 -0.44%) (Sarmini et al, 2018). Hence these three resources could be used for organic fertilizer manufacture.…”

“…If organic fertilizers could be manufactured at low cost using available underutilized materials, it will be a beneficial way to overcome issues related to inorganic fertilizer application. Palmyrah leaf has been used as manure from ancient times by farmers of the Northern Province, which has been reported to have high nutrient content (Sarmini et al, 2017;Sarmini et al, 2018). Coconut fronds had been used for fencing and roofing.…”