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Livestock-Based Farming Systems, Renewable Resources and the Environment |
Experiment 1: Banana pseudo stem and Taro foliage were chopped into small pieces (1 to 2 cm) and wilted in sunlight to reduce the moisture to about 75-80%, after that mixing together and with or without 2% of molasses and ensiling in rigid plastic containers of 2 liters capacity with 4 replications of each treatment. A separate container was e opened at 0, 3, 8, 15 and 30 days for measurement of pH, DM, CP and sugars. pH reduced very quickly and no difference between molasses treatments: 0 day not added molasses: 6.49 and added molasses: 6.11; 3 days: not added molasses: 4.38 and added: 4.29; 8 days: not added molasses: 4.6 and added: 4.09; 15 days: not added molasses: 3.93 and added: 3.83 and 30 days: not added molasses: 3.83 and added: 3.73. Mixed foliage (Taro leaves-stems + banana pseudo-stems) can be ensiled easily and stored for long time. Sugar content was for banana pseudo stems:4.9% in DM, for Taro foliage: 8.5% in DM and for mixture Taro leaves-stems + banana pseudo-stem with ratio: 50/ 50 was 7.6% in DM.
Experiment 2: 20 Mong Cai sows from parity third with live weight of about 80kg, were mated with the same semen of Yorkshire boar were selected on farms in Phu Da commune (Phu Vang district, Thua Thien Hue province) and divided into 5 treatments: Treatment EBT100 (100% ensiled taro and banana and 0% Rice bran), treatment EBT 75 (75% ensiled taro and banana + 25% rice bran); Treatment EBT 50 (50% ensiled taro and banana + 50% rice bran); Treatment EBT 25 (25% ensiled taro and banana + 75% rice bran) and Treatment EBT 0 (0% ensiled taro and banana + 100% rice bran). In first 90 days of sow pregnancy feed was 1.5 kg DM/ day; 24 days of last part of pregnancy was 1.7 kg DM; in lactation period was feeding ad-libitum after 5 days of farrowing. Litter size at birth (number piglets/ litter) did not differ between treatments (BT100: 11.25; BT75: 10.50; BT50: 11.00; BT25: 11.00 and BT0: 11.75, Birth weight were lowest in treatment BT100 (0.55 kg) and lower in treatment BT75 (0.61 kg0, higher in BT50 (0.65 kg), BT25 (0.66 kg) and BT0 (0.67 kg); They were significant difference between treatment BT100 with treatment BT75, BT50, BT25 and BT0 (P<0.05); but none significant difference between treatment BT50, BT25 and BT0 (P> 0.05).
For weaning weight (kg/ piglet) was lowest in treatment BT100 (6.50 kg) and higher in treatment BT75 (7.45 kg), treatment BT50 (8.38 kg), treatment BT25 (8.80kg) and treatment BT0 (8.97 kg). It were significant difference between treatment BT100 and treatment BT75 with other three treatments (P<0.05), but did not significant difference between treatments BT50, BT25 and BT0 (P>0.05).
Live weight lost of the sows during lactation were higher in treatment BT100 (23.1%) and then BT75 (19.9%) and lower in BT 0 (15.3%) and then BT25 (15.6%) and BT50 (17.3). It was significant difference between treatment BT100 and BT75 with other three treatments (P<0.05), but none significant difference between treatment BT50, BT25 and BT0 (P>0.05)
FCR for produced 1 kg of weaning piglet (kg feed) were highest in BT100 (4.67kg), then BT75 (4.40 kg), then BT0 (4.02) and lowest in BT25 (3.73) and BT50 (3.86). It were significant difference between treatment BT100 and BT75 with other three treatments (P<0.05), but none significant difference between treatment BT50, BT25 and BT0 (P>0.05).
Ensiled mixture of taro leaves-stems and Banana pseudo-stems could replace 50% of rice bran with no effect on the reproductive performance of Mong Cais sows kept in small holder farms in Central Vietnam.
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