Feed intake, nutrient utilization and growth of southern Thai native male cattle fed plicatulum hay with differant levels of concentrate
Suthisa Tamchan, Wanwisa Ngampongsai, Saowanit Kuprasert, and Surasak Kochapakdee
pp. 385 - 397
Abstract
The effects of levels of concentrate supplementation on feed intake, nutrient utilization and growth of southern Thai native male cattle were studied. Six cattle, 13±2 months old with average body weight (BW) of 142.9±6.7 kg were randomly devided into 2 groups with 3 heads for each group. The experiment was devided into 2 phases. In phase-I, the cattle were fed with plicatulum (Paspalum plicatulum) hay ad libitum, and were supplemented with concentrate (13.71% crude protein, CP) at 0.5% of BW (G1group) and 1.0% of BW (G2 group), for 91 days. Dry matter (DM) intake, organic matter (OM) intake and CP intake of G2 group (3.74, 3.42 kg/h/d and 276.57 g/h/d, respectively) were significantly higher than those of G1 group (2.91, 2.65 kg/h/d; p<0.05 and 165.50 g/h/d; p<0.01, respectively) resulting in a higher (p<0.01) growth rate of G2 group (0.34 kg/h/d) than that of G1 group (0.01 kg/h/d). Nitrogen (N) balance of G2 group (0.24 g/kgBW0.75/d) was significantly higher (p<0.01) than those of G1 group (-0.01 g/kgBW0.75/d). The digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) of G2 group (0.19 and 0.16 Mcal/kgBW0.75/d, respectively) were higher than that of G1 group (0.12 Mcal/kgBW0.75/d; p<0.05 and 0.10 Mcal/kgBW0.75/d; p<0.01, respectively). The digestibility coefficients of DM, OM CP and total digestible nutrient (TDN) of G2 group (54.22, 57.11, 47.76 and 54.38%, respectively) were significantly higher than those of G1 group (48.44, 51.49, 34.49%; p<0.01 and 48.68%; p<0.05, respectively). However, effect of levels of concentrate supplementation were not significantly different (p>0.05) for digestibility coefficients of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) for the either group In phase-II, the cattle of G2 group were continuously supplemented with concentrate at 1.0% of BW while the cattle of G1 group were shifted to supplement with concentrate at 1.0% of BW. The DM, OM and CP intake of G2 group (4.01, 3.66 kg/h/d and 305.10 g/h/d, respectively) were significantly higher than those of G1 group (3.35, 3.09 kg/h/d; p<0.01 and 244.56 g/h/d; p<0.05, respectively). Growth rate, N balance, DE, ME and digestion coefficient of nutrients were not significantly different between the two groups. When
considering overall nutrients intake of cattle for G1 and G2 group over 182 days, the DM, OM and CP intake of G2 group (3.87, 3.54 kg/h/d and 291.29 g/h/d, respectively) were significantly higher than those of G1 group (3.14, 2.88 kg/h/d; p<0.05 and 204.29 g/h/d; p<0.01, respectively). Similarly, growth rate of G2 group (0.26kg/h/d) were significantly higher than that of G1 group (0.08 kg/h/d).
The findings of this study suggest that southern Thai native male cattle fed plicatulum hay as a roughage could obtain protein and energy levels that meet their requirements for maintenance and growth when they are supplemented with concentrate at 1.0% of BW.
