|
Matching Livestock Systems with Available Resources |
MEKARN Regional Conference 2007 |
Faculty
of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine,
Nong Lam
University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
nguyenvanhiep5@yahoo.com
* Department
of Animal Nutrition and Management, Swedish
University of Agricultural Sciences,
PO Box 7024,
S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
An experiment were carried out to evaluate the feed intake and digestibility of Kudzu silage and Kudzu hay. Kudzu silage with 6% of sugarcane molasses and Kudzu hay was used in the experiment. Six crossbred Red-Sindhi heifers, 8-10 months of age and 150-180 kg live weight, were randomly allocated in a 3 x 2 change-over design with three treatments: grass diet (Control), grass diet with a supplement of Kudzu silage (KS), and grass diet with a supplement of Kudzu hay (KH). During the feed intake measurement the grass, Kudzu silage and Kudzu hay were supplied ad libitum. For the digestibility determinations the diet was limited to 85% of mean dry matter intake measured.
Diet DM intake increased with the preserved Kudzu foliage, especially with the Kudzu hay supplement. The OM and CP digestibility of Kudzu silage were 61.6 and 54.7%, and of Kudzu hay were 62.1 and 58.1%, respectively. The higher digestibility of Kudzu hay and Kudzu silage than grass and the higher intake with the supplement diets resulted in increased supplement diet digestibility, high DE and high DCP daily intake that would result in improved growth rate of cattle.