Study on the use of  ensiled taro (Colocasia esculenta)  and cassava  (Manihot esculenta Crantz) leaves as protein sources in diets for   pigs  in the uplands conditions in  central Vietnam 

Nguyen Thi Hoa Ly, Tran Thanh Hai and T R Preston^*
 

Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, Vietnam
^*UTA, TOSOLY, AA48 Socorro, Santander, Colombia

nguyenhoaly@gmail.com

Abstract

The effects of additive at 4% from molasses and without molasses with hammer or without hammer after chopping were used to study the quality of taro leaves or taro foliages silage. A total of 6 treatments with 3 replicates each at time measuring were used for ensiling during 0 to 60 days. There was a marked decrease in pH after 7 days and the pH remained low and stable at 3.6-4.6 after 60 days ensiling in all treatments. There were significant differences in DM content of the silages with time of ensiling. The crude protein content decreased with time from 0 to 60 days after ensiling for all treatment groups (P<0.001). The CP in the taro foliages about 17- 17.6 % (in DM) were  lower than in taro leaves (CP content 25 -26 % in DM) after 60 days ensiling. It is concluded that taro leaves or foliage taro can be preserved successfully with or without 4 % molasses additive. The silages can be stored for at least two months.

The three  growing pigs of Van Pa about 5 months of age, with an average body weight of 21.6 ± 1.24 kg in a 3 x 3 Latin Square arrangement were three levels of mixture of ensiled taro leaves  and  cassava leaves. Protein from a 50 : 50 (DM basis) mixture of ensiled taro leaves  and cassava leaves replaced the protein from fish meal in diet of growing Van Pa pigs at levels of 0, 50 and 100 %. The experiment lasted for a total of 30 days. Each of the three experimental periods was 10 days, comprising 5 days of adaptation to each diet followed by 5 days of collection of faeces and urine.  The Van Pa pigs were kept in individually in metabolism cages for 30 days for familiar with new feed and house before carried out experiment.

Increasing levels protein from a mixture ensiled taro leaves and cassava leaves replacing protein from fish meal were significant decreased in the daily intake of DM, OM, CP and CF in growing Van Pa pigs. However, there were no significant differences in the digestibility of DM, OM, CP and N retained/N digested among treatments (P>0.05). Mean values for digestibility CP (%) in Van Pa growing pigs fed cassava root meal and rice bran and increasing proportions (0 to 100%) of protein from a mixture ensiled taro leaves and cassava  leaves replacing protein from fish meal were: 76 %; 68 % and 69 %, respectively; N retained/N digested of Van Pa pigs were 67 %, 62 % and 61 %, respectively.

Mixture from a 50 : 50 (DM basis) of ensiled taro leaves  and ensiled cassava leaves  can be used as a protein replace fishmeal  for Van Pa pigs.

Key words: ensiled taro leaves;   cassava leaves;  digestibility; Van Pa growing pigs

Figure 1: Changes in pH for taro leaves ensiled alone (T), with 4% molasses (TM) or taro leaves + stem (TS)	Figure 2: Relationship between DM intake and N retention in pigs fed increasing proportions of taro leaf silage and cassava leaf silage replacing fish meal