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MEKARN Conference 2010 |
A total of 104 households was selected for a study of the potential benefits from growing Taro. The results showed that even on the low-fertility, sandy soil in Vinh Phu commune in the coastal region of central Vietnam, yields of foliage and roots can be very high (200 and 20 tonnes/ha fresh basis, respectively in 200 days. The benefits were as high as 100 million VND (about USD 5,000)/ha, almost five times more than from rice.
In a feeding
trial with 18 Mong Cai sows, mated by AI with semen from a Yorkshire boar,
boiled leaves of Giant taro (Alocasia odora)
replaced 50% or all the protein from soybean meal in
diets based on rice bran and broken rice.
Litter size at birth and at weaning, and piglet survival to weaning, did not
differ among treatments. With increasing replacement of soybean meal by
boiled taro leaves, there were slight decreases in piglet weight at birth and at
weaning but no differences in litter weight at weaning. There was slightly
poorer lactation performance (lower litter weights of piglets at 21 days,
greater loss of live weight during lactation, increased time to re-mating), due
to replacement of soybean meal by boiled taro leaves, but the differences were
relatively small, and were most noticeable between the 50 and 100% levels of the
boiled taro leaves.
It was concluded that the boiled leaves of the Giant taro can be a complete
replacement for soybean meal in the diets of Mong Cai sows with only a
slight increase in time to re-mating (from 7.2 to 12.7 days) and a reduction of
3.5% in litter weight at weaning.
Economic benefits were increased threefold from complete
replacement of soybean meal by the boiled taro leaves.
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Table 1. Yield and income from growing taro species in the sandy soil in Vinh Phu commune |
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Items |
Unit |
Bac Ha |
Cham |
Quang |
P |
|
Stems+leaves |
kg/ sao |
9991 |
9916 |
9260 |
0.65 |
|
Roots |
kg/ sao |
1062 |
859 |
1113. |
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|
Income, stems and leaves |
VND, 10-6/ sao |
3.00 |
2.98 |
2.78 |
0.15 |
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Income, roots |
VND, 10-6/ sao |
3.19 a |
2.58 b |
3.34 a |
0.01 |
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Total income |
VND, 10-6/ sao |
6.18a |
5.55 b |
6.12 a |
0.01 |
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1 Sao = 500 m2 |
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Table 2. Mean values for performance of crossbred piglets from Mong Cai sows fed protein supplements of soybean meal, (SBM, boiled Giant taro leaves and stems (GT) or a mixture of both (SBM-GT) |
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|
SBM |
SBM-GT |
GT |
P |
|
Pregnancy, days |
113 |
114 |
114 |
0.56 |
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Litter size at birth |
12.2 |
12.7 |
13.2 |
0.33 |
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Litter size at 24h |
11.0 |
12.0 |
12.0 |
0.15 |
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Litter size at weaning |
10.7 |
11.2 |
11.3 |
0.17 |
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Survival to weaning, % |
97.2 |
93.3 |
94.9 |
0.48 |
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Birth weight, kg/piglet |
0.64a |
0.65a |
0.62b |
0.03 |
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Weaning weight, kg/piglet |
7.15a |
6.95a |
6.48b |
0.01 |
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Weaning weight, kg/ litter |
76.2 |
77.6 |
73.5 |
0.23 |
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abc Means without common superscript are different at P <0.05 |
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