In Lao PDR, farmers keep pigs more than other species of
animal. Local pigs and main stock to be raised and their feed are
derived from vegetables collected from the forest, root crops such
as: cassava, maize, wild root crops and household refuse. This
practice is of low input low output. The main constraint is
protein.
The project will test the use of water spinach and
stylosanthes, singly or in combination as protein supplements for
local pigs fed ensiled cassava root as the energy
source.
The findings from this trial will be disseminated and promoted
to farmers to adopt if this technological option is economically
viable and technically feasible.
The livestock sub-sector in Lao PDR plays an important role in
cash income for the smallholder. Small livestock production,
particularly chicken and pigs are to be boosted in rural areas in
the pursuit to increase daily protein intake of the people living
in the rural and remote areas but also to generate cash income for
their household. The present production system is subsistence with
low inputs. The main constraints for this kind of farming are
disease and feed supply both quality and quantity. Local breeds
are still predominant in the production in rural area. The
preference for local breed is high throughout the country. Feed
supply relies mostly on crop residues and wastes from the
households . Chicken and pigs are let loose to scavenge in the
village.
It is known that about 60 to 70% of the total production cost of
small livestock is feed . Technical options to reduce the due cost
are required. The project aims to maximize the utilisation of
locally available feed resources, particularly cassava as feed for
pigs with the complementation of protein from forages grown by the
farmer.
Supplements of mixtures of stylosanthes and water spinach will support better
pig performance with a basal diet of ensiled cassava root than
either of the two foliages fed separately
These are:
ST: Stylosanthes foliage fed ad libitum with ensiled cassava
root (the latter controlled at 2 kg DM per 100 kg live
weight)
WS: The same as ST but with Water spinach fed ad libitum instead
of stylosanthes
STWS: Same as WS but with a 60:40 mixture (fresh basis) of water
spinach and stylosanthes
The three treatments are applied to local breed of pigs, one month post weaning (equal numbers of castrated males and females) in individual pens, with 4 replicates and a total of 12 pigs in the experiment. The pigs should be blocked for sex and for live weight within sexes for the allocation of treatments. The trial will last 150 days.
The cassava roots are purchased in the market, chopped by hand
into pieces of 1-2 cm, and ensiled in polyethylene bags held in
sacks of polypropylene for a period of 6 weeks. Water spinach and
stylosanthes are grown on the live stock station. An area of 500
m²is needed for the water spinach and 750 m² for the
stylosanthes. The water spinach is harvested every 28 days and
fertilized with urea (dissolved in water in four applications at
weekly intervals, and at 10 g/m²/week). The stylosanthes is
harvested when the biomass growth reaches about 50 cm in
height.
The ensiled cassava root is fed at the rate equivalent to 2 kg
DM/100 kg live weight of the pigs. The foliages are fed ad libitum
(about 20% above recorded intakes). Water is available at all
times.
Pigs are weighed every 14 days. Records are kept of feed offered
and refused. Samples of feed offered and refused are analysed for
DM and N by stadard methods (AOAC 1990).
Growth rates of the pigs are calculated by the regression of
live weight on time. Data collected will be processed by ANOVA
according to the GLM model of Minitab (version13.31), the sources
of variation in the model being: supplements, sex and
error.
The experiment is in the early stage. However, observations of the pigs and records of feed intake indicate that the supplementation with water spinach alone is superior to the treatments employing Stylo. The intake of stylo is low.
.