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MEKARN Conference 2010 |
Baby corn is a major crop that has been grown for local consumption and for export for many years in Thailand. The baby corn is normally harvested at about 50-60 days after planting. The waste in the field after harvested is the baby corn stover around 18-25 t DM per ha. Traditionally the farmers will cut the stover, pile up and burn after dry out, this would pollute the atmosphere. However, the dairy and beef farmers have been utilized baby corn stover as a source of roughage for their animals for some years. The chemical composition especially crude protein is approximately 6-10 percent on DM basis. The studies on utilization of baby corn stover for dairy cows and buffalo cows were carried out. The nutritive values of baby corn stover were 22.58 persent dry matter, 8.15 persent crude protein and 31.22 percent crude fibre. The energy values of baby corn stover were 6.97 MJ/kgDM ME and 3.88 MJ/kg DM NEL. The utilizable protein at duodenum was 446.65 g per day (117.32 percent of crude protein intake). The experiment was carried out to compare milk yield of the cows fed with napier grass compare to baby corn stover, it was found out that there was no significant different of milk yield (9.99 ± 1.62 vs 10.36 ± 1.37 kg FCM per day). The experiment with buffalo cows fed with napier grass compare with baby corn stover, it was also found that there was no significant different to milk yield (2.60 ± 0.39 vs 2.42 ± 0.34 kg per day). It is therefore concluded that baby corn stover could be well utilized as a source of roughage for dairy cows and buffalo cows.