Two studies were conducted to assessment on feed utilization for
cattle production in Takeo province and evaluate the sun-dried
cassava foliage on growth performance of heifers fed rice straw and
rumen supplement as basal diet.
A survey was conducted in three villages of Treang district Takeo province. The Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method was applied for collection of data on cattle production, and availability of feed resources by season. Twenty-five farmers both men and women participated in the study. Among the twenty-five families, fifteen households that kept cattle were interviewed to obtain information related to cattle production such as breeds, marketing flow, and management techniques.
The cattle in the area were mainly Bos indicus, among
those about 68 % were crossbred with Haryana and 31.8% were of the
local "Yellow" breed. Cattle production was primarily for draft
power with meat production and manure as fertilizer for crops a
secondary consideration. The draft power served for soil
preparation for growing rice, which is the common practice through
the area. The numbers of cattle per household were: 3-5 heads
(73.9%), more than 5 heads (8.7%) and 1-2 heads (17.4%). The
calving rate was 66%.
Foot and Mouth Disease and Haemorrhagic Septicaemia appeared to
be an occasional problem in this area. During the cropping season,
the cattle are tethered at the homestead or in small plots of land
nearby the house and supplemented with rice straw or cut and carry
grasses. Feed resources for cattle are natural grasses, rice straw
and shrubs, which are collected from the rice field. The fruits and
leaves of the sugar palm, and rain tree, bamboo, manila tamarind
and cassava by-products are used when grass or by-products are not
sufficient. No technologies to improve feed quality had been
introduced. There had been no introduction of new forage species.
All the farmers followed the traditional management system. Low
quality and shortage of feed appeared to be the major constraints
for cattle keeping during the period February to
April.
It is concluded that cattle production in the study area is
directly associated with rice cultivation and this relationship is
important for optimizing profit. Feed utilization depends on what
is grown by the farmer and may be the main factor limiting how many
cattle kept in each household. There is a need to focus on ways to
improve the nutritive value of feed resources and on introducing
forage trees with high nutritive value and biomass
yield.
An on-farm trial experiment was carried out in Treang district,
Takeo province from June to September 2006. Twenty female cattle
were allocated to five levels of sun-dried cassava foliage (0,
0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 % of body weight
in DM basis) to evaluate the growth response when fed a basal
diet of untreated rice straw plus a rumen supplement. The heifers
were tethered alongside the feed trough in each household, where
they had free access to the experimental diet and water. The
heifers were provided rumen supplement (mainly urea, sulphur and
other minerals) at 0.25% body weight and ad libitum rice
straw. The design was a completely randomized design (CRD) with
four replications of each treatment.
The intake of the leaf component of the cassava was 90% of the
offer but only 45% of the offer level of petiole was consumed. The
total intake of DM and crude protein intake increased according to
the intake of cassava foliage. Daily weight gain increased from 201
to 402 g/day and feed conversion was better with increasing levels
of protein from sun-dried cassava foliage in the diet. The
responses were linear over the range of cassava crude protein
intakes from 0 to 1.6 g/kg live weight.
It is concluded that supplementation with sun-dried cassava
foliage stimulated the growth performance of cattle fed untreated
rice straw and a rumen supplement, and that the response was linear
over the range from 0 to 1.6 g cassava crude protein/kg live
weight.
Key words:cattle production system, feed
utilization, management, smallholder farms, on farm trial, levels
sun dried cassava foliage, rumen supplement, rice straw, growth
response, intake