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Matching Livestock Systems with Available Resources |
MEKARN Regional Conference 2007 |
Taro (Colocacia esculenta) leaves and petioles were ensiled with 4% molasses. After 7 days the pH decreased to 4 with no further change up to 56 days, the results being the same for both leaves and stems. In a metabolism trial with 6 growing pigs of average weight 20 kg (3 Mong Cai and 4 crossbreds (Large White x Mong Cai) in a double 3x3 Latin square, taro leaves were offered fresh, after cooking for 5 minutes or after ensiling.. The basal diet was composed of cassava root meal and rice bran (1:1 ratio DM basis) with an estimated crude protein content of 6.2% in DM. It was fed at 80% of observed voluntary intake. The taro leaves were fed ad libitum.
Intakes of taro leaf DM were lowest for the treatment with fresh leaves with no difference between cooking and ensiling. The leaves contributed 20% of the DM and 40% of the crude protein in the diets iwth cooked and ensiled leaves and 13 and 30% respectively for the diet with fresh leaves. Apparent digestibility of crude protein was highest for the diet with ensiled leaves (76.2%) and lowest for the diet with fresh leaves (69.7%). N retention was similar for diets with ensiled and cooked leaves (10.2 and 10.4 g/day) with the lowest value (8.4) for the diet with fresh leaves. There were no differences between breeds for coefficients of apparent digestibility (DM, CP and CF) but DM intake as function of metabolic body weight (W0.75) and N retention as proportion of ingested and digested N were lower for Mong Cai than for the crossbreds.
It is hypothesized that the increase in intake after cooking or ensiling the taro leaves was probably because these treatments reduced the concentration of calcium oxalate.