Effect of a supplement of water spinach on digestibility and N retention by growing goats fed a basal diet of Jackfruit foliage

Iv Sophea

Kampong Cham National School of Agriculture
Kampong Cham, Cambodia
iv_sopheakcnsa@yahoo.com

Introduction

As the matter of fact, there are some major constraints which limit the development of goat production among rural farmers. Those include genetic factors, feed in dry season, diseases and management resulting in low productivity and poor reproduction. The rapid price increase of agricultural products is concerning people especially in developing countries. On the other hand, Gasoline issue is becoming worse every day because the peak of its production and the increasing demand of energy around the world. Many large scale farms in Europe have already gone to the end and closedown when they failed to support feed, most of which are imported. Those resulted in inadequate supply of food for human consumption, a main start of world food problems. Also, Farmers raise local breeds, which have a small body size and there is a lack of feed during the dry season resulting in low productivity and poor reproduction (Sopha Xaypha and Ledin 2005).

Tree leaves have been used traditionally by farmers as animal feed but relatively little is known about their potential to replace conventional protein-rich concentrates such as soya bean meal and fish meal (Keir et al 1997). Also, goats can eat and utilize many different kinds of tropical foods efficiently even though there are some anti-nutritional factors found among those species. Moreover, the price of goats’ meat is still cheaper compared to the other ones. Farmers can have variety of local feed for goats as these animals sometimes can consume what other animals completely ignore like jackfruit foliage or mimosa leaves. In the last decade, in many tropical countries and regions, trend to identify and utilize locally available resources among shrub and tree leaves as feeds for ruminants has been increasing (Shayo 1998).  This research will be done to study if Supplementing Jackfruit leaves with a readily fermentable source of nutrients (eg: water spinach) will increase feed intake, digestibility and N retention in growing goats.

Hypothesis

Supplementing Jackfruit leaves with a readily fermentable source of nutrients (eg: water spinach) will increase feed intake, digestibility and N retention in growing goats

Objectives

To evaluate digestibility and Nitrogen retention in goats fed Jackfruit foliage alone compared with a mixture of jackfruit foliage and water spinach.

Materials and methods

Location

The research is conducted in the research station and laboratory of Kampoong Cham National School of Agriculture about 125 kilometers from Phnom Penh city. Foliage of jackfruit is collected around the campus; water spinach is bought from farmers.

Experiment design

The experiment will be designed as a 3*3 Latin Square with 10 day periods (Table 1).

Treatments

These are:

Ja: Jackfruit foliage alone

JaW0.5: Jackfruit foliage plus water spinach at level of 0.5% of live weight (DM basis)

JaW1: Jackfruit foliage plus water spinach at level of 1.0% of live weight (DM basis)

Feeds and feeding system

Water spinach (Photo 1) will be bought from farmers’ households near the college. The jackfruit foliage (Photo 2) will be harvested in the campus of Kampong Cham National School of Agriculture while  All feeds will be hung in the feed trough. The feeds are offered twice daily: about 7.00am and 17.00pm. Water spinach will be fed first so that goats can consume 100% of it. Days 1 to 5 of each period will be for adaptation to the new treatment; and days 6 to 10 are for data collection.

Measurement of digestibility and N retention

Feeds are weighed before and after feeding to measure the intake. Feces and urine and feed residues are collected and weighed in the early morning and analyzed in laboratory at the same day. Each component will be analyzed for dry matter and nitrogen. Calculation of apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter and crude protein will be done as follows:

Nitrogen retention:    Nitrogen intake-(Nitrogen in feces + Nitrogen in urine)

Statistical analysis

The data will be analyzed by Analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of the Minitab software version 13.1. Sources of variation are goats, treatments, periods and error

References

Ammaly Phengvilaysouk and Lampheuy Kaensombath 2006: Effect on intake and digestibility by goats given jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) leaves alone, the whole branch or free access to both. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 18, Article No. 38. http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd18/3/amma18038.htm

Daovy K, Preston T R and Ledin I 2008:  Selective behavior of goats offered different tropical foliages.  Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 20, supplement. http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd20/supplement/daov2.htm

Dahlanuddin 2001 Forages commonly available to goats under farm conditions on Lombok Island, Indonesia. Livestock Research for Rural Development 13(1).http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd13/1/dahl131.htm

Duyen N T, Bien L T, Mui N T, Binh D V and Preston T R 1996 Foliage of Trichantera gigantea, Jack fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), banana (Musa sp) and Acacia mangium as protein sources for lactating goats fed a basal diet of rice straw and sugarcane tops. Livestock Research for Rural Development volume 8, Number 3, September 1996. http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd8/3/duyen83.htm

Keir B, Dinh Van Bien, Preston T R and Ørskov E R 1997 Nutritive value of leaves from tropical trees and shrubs Intake; growth and digestibility studies with goat, Livestock Research for Rural Development 9 (4)  http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd9/4/bren942.htm

Kusmartono 2007: Effects of supplementing Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L) wastes with urea or Gliricidia/cassava leaves on growth, rumen digestion and feed degradability of sheep fed on rice straw basal diet. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 19, Article #21.  http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd19/2/kusm19021.htm

Nguyen Thi Duyen, Le Thi Bien, Nguyen Thi Mui, Dinh Van Binh and Preston T R 1996 Foliage of Trichantera gigantea, Jack fruit (Artocarpusheterophyllus), banana (Musasp) and Acacia mangium as protein sources for lactating goats fed a basal diet of rice straw and sugarcane tops. Livestock Research for Rural Development 8 (3).http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd8/3/bien83.htm

Pathoummalangsy Khamparn and Preston T R 2006: Effect of a supplement of fresh water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) on feed intake and digestibility in goats fed a basal diet of cassava foliage; Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 18, Article No. 35. http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd18/3/kham18035.htm

Sopha Xaypha and Ledin I 2005 Evaluation of foliages for growing goats. MSc thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala http://www.mekarn.org/procsr/sopha.pdf

Theng Kouch, Preston T R and Ly J 2003: Studies on utilization of trees and shrubs as the sole feedstuff by growing goats; foliage preferences and nutrient utilization; Livestock Research for Rural Development (15) 7 Retrieved, from http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd15/7/kouc157.htm

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