Effect of Level of Crude Protein and Use of Cottonseed Meal in Diets Containing Cassava Chips and Rice Straw for Lactating Dairy Cows

Promkot, C.,Wanapat, M. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2005 Animal Bioscience Vol.18 No.4

The effects of different levels of crude protein (CP) and cottonseed meal replacing for soybean meal in cassava chips and rice straw-based diets for mid-lactating cows (100-150 day in milk [DIM]), were studied using 32 multiparous Holstein Fresian crossbred dairy cows. Diets containing 10.5, 12.5, 13.7, 14.4% CP of the rations and 0, 12.1, 14.9, 17.8% cottonseed meal were fed to cows for 60 days. Thirty two cows were randomly divided into four dietary treatments using a Randomized complete block design. Four dietary treatments were offered in the form of total mixed ration (TMR) with concentrate to roughage (chopped rice straw) at 60:40 and offered ad libitum. Dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intakes tended to linearly increase with increasing dietary CP levels. Intakes and digestibility of crude protein increased linearly with increasing dietary CP level (p<0.01). Crude protein digestibility of the 10.5% CP diet was lower (p<0.05) than that in diets with higher levels of CP, while there were no significant differences among the other three levels of CP (12.5, 13.7 and 14.4%). Daily milk yield tended to increase with increased CP from 10.5 to 14.4%. Income over feed in terms of US$/kg of milk increased with increased CP from 10.5 to 13.7% and decreased when the CP level was higher than 13.7% (quadratic effect p<0.09). Milk composition was not significantly affected by increasing level of CP, however there were relatively high contents of protein and fat among treatments. The proportion of milk-urea N (MUN), ammonia-N ($NH_3$-N) and bloodurea N (BUN) were closely correlated and increased linearly with increasing CP levels (p<0.01). Balanced diet was found in diet containing 12.5 and 13.7% CP of the rations when BUN and MUN were used as indicators of the protein to energy ratio in the diet. Conclusions can be made that increasing dietary CP levels from 10.5 to 13.7% using cottonseed meal as the main source to completely replace soybean meal was beneficial to cows consuming rice straw and cassava chips based-diets. Increasing the CP level above 13.7% of total ration did not additionally improve milk yield and composition or net income.

Influence of Sulfur on Fresh Cassava Foliage and Cassava Hay Incubated in Rumen Fluid of Beef Cattle

Promkot, C.,Wanapat, M.,Wachirapakorn, C.,Navanukraw, C. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.9

Two male, rumen fistulated crossbred Brahman-Thai native beef cattle (body weight = $400{\pm}50$ kg), fed on rice straw as a source of roughage, were used as rumen fluid sources. The treatments were $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangements; two roughages (fresh cassava foliage and cassava hay) and three sulfur levels (elemental sulfur) at 0.2 (control), 0.5 and 1% of DM, respectively. The experiment revealed that the rates (c) of gas production, ammonia-nitrogen concentration, true digestibility, total concentration or molar proportions of VFA and microbial biomass were not significantly different between cassava hay and fresh cassava foliage. However, all parameters for cassava hay were higher than for fresh cassava foliage. The supplementation of 0.5% sulfur to fresh cassava foliage resulted in a significant increase in the rate of gas production, true digestibility, total concentration of VFA, microbial biomass, rate of HCN disappearance, thiocyanate appearance and cyanide percentage conversion into thiocyanate. However, there were no effects of sulfur supplementation at 0.2, 0.5 and 1% to cassava hay. The finding suggests the utilization of cassava foliage for rumen microorganisms in terms of fermentation and HCN detoxification could be improved by sulfur supplementation of 0.5% of DM.

Estimation of Ruminal Degradation and Intestinal Digestion of Tropical Protein Resources Using the Nylon Bag Technique and the Three-step In vitro Procedure in Dairy Cattle on Rice Straw Diets

Promkot, C.,Wanapat, Metha,Rowlinson, P. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.12

The experiment was carried out using fistulated multiparous Holstein Friesian crossbred (75% Holstein Friesian and 25% Red Sindhi) dairy cows in their dry period fed on untreated rice straw to evaluate the nutritive value of local protein feed resources using the in sacco method and in vitro pepsin-pancreatin digestion. Experimental feeds were cottonseed meal (CSM); soybean meal (SBM); dried brewery's grains (DBG); palm kernel meal (PSM); cassava hay (CH); leucaena leaf meal (LLM). Each feedstuff was weighed into duplicate nylon bags and incubated in each of the two rumen fistulated cows for 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 48 h. Rumen feed residues from bags of 16 h incubation were used for estimation of lower gut digestibility by the technique of in vitro pepsin-pancreatin digestion. Ruminal ammonia-nitrogen ($NH_3-N$) concentrations did not differ between treatments or time with a mean of 5.5 mg%. Effective degradability of DM of CSM, SBM, DBG, PSM, CH and LLM were 41.9, 56.1, 30.8, 47.0, 41.1 and 47.5%, respectively. Effective degradabilities of the CP in feedstuffs were 49.6, 59.2, 40.9, 33.5, 47.3 and 65.0% for the respective feedstuffs. The CP in vitro pepsin-pancreatin digestibility as ranked from the highest to the lowest were SBM, CSM, LLM, CH, DBG, PSM, respectively. The intestinal and total tract digestion of feedstuffs in the current study were relatively lower than that obtained from previous literature. The results of this study indicate that SBM and LLM were highly degradable in the rumen, while CH, CSM and DBG were less degradable and, hence resulted in higher rumen undegradable protein. Soybean meal and LLM could be used to improve rumen ecology whilst CH, CSM and DBG could be used as rumen by-pass protein for ruminant feeding in the tropics.

Effect of Elemental Sulfur Supplementation on Rumen Environment Parameters and Utilization Efficiency of Fresh Cassava Foliage and Cassava Hay in Dairy Cattle

Promkot, C.,Wanapat, Metha Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2009 Animal Bioscience Vol.22 No.10

Effect of sulfur (S) on utilization efficiency of fresh cassava foliage and cassava hay in dairy cows was evaluated using thirty-two $1^{st}-2^{nd}$ lactation Holstein-Friesian crossbred dairy cows. The experimental treatment was a 2${\times}$2 factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) using two roughages (rice straw+fresh cassava foliage (FCF) and rice straw+cassava hay (CH)) and two elemental sulfur (S) levels (0.15 and 0.4% S of dry matter (DM)), respectively. Four dietary treatments (FCF+0.15, FCF+0.4, CH+0.15 and CH+0.4) were offered ad libitum in the form of a total mixed ration (TMR) with concentrate to roughage (chopped rice straw+chopped cassava foliage) ratio at 60:40. Fresh cassava foliage or cassava hay resulted in similar dry mater intake, rumen ecology parameters, total tract digestibility, blood chemistry, milk production and composition. However, HCN intake, blood and milk thiocyanate concentration were significantly higher (p<0.01) in cows fed fresh cassava foliage with no sign of potential toxicity. Dry matter intake, body weight changes, molar percentage of propionate in rumen, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility and nitrogen (N) retention of cows tended to be increased while DM digestibility (65.6, 72.7, 68.6 and 72.1% of total DM intake for the respective treatments), rumen bacteria population (1.4, 1.7, 1.6 and $1.7{\times}10^{11}$ cell/ml for respective treatments), fungal zoospore population (0.4, 0.6, 0.4 and $0.5{\times}10^{6}$ cell/ml for respective treatments), urinary allantoin (25.3, 28.0, 26.3 and 27.6 g/d for respective treatments), microbial N yield (136.0, 154.6, 142.8 and 151.3 g N/d for respective treatments) and milk protein content (3.4, 3.5, 3.2 and 3.5% for respective treatments) were significantly (p<0.05) higher in cows fed on supplemented sulfur at 0.4% of DM in comparison with 0.15% S-supplemented diets. Based on these results, it is concluded that cassava foliage could be used as a portion of roughage for dairy cows and supplementation of S would be nutritionally beneficial.

Effect of Cassoy-urea Pellet as a Protein Source in Concentrate on Ruminal Fementation and Digestibility in Cattle

Wanapat, Metha,Promkot, C.,Wanapat, S. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2006 Animal Bioscience Vol.19 No.7

Four male crossbred native beef cattle (average body weight of 427.7 kg) were randomly allocated to four types of cassoy-urea pellet as a source of protein in concentrate according to a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design to determine effect of diets on ruminal fermentation and nutrient digestibility. The four types of cassoy-urea pellets contained cassava hay, soybean meal, urea and binding agent at 79.2:19.8:0:1 (27.9% CP dry matter), 78.4:19.6:1:1 (30.4% CP), 77.6:19.4:2:1 (33.0% CP) and 99:0:0:1 (23.8% CP) for dietary treatments; 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. All four concentrate mixtures contained similar crude protein levels (11% CP) and were fed to animals in two equal parts (0.5% of body weight per day) while urea-treated rice straw (5% urea) was given ad libitum. The experiment revealed that dietary concentrate treatments had no effect on dry matter intake while digestibilities of neutral-detergent fiber and crude protein were higher (p<0.05) in cattle fed dietary treatments 1, 2 and 3 than in cattle fed dietary treatment 4. Ruminal ammonia-nitrogen ($NH_3$-N), was higher and acetic acid concentration (C2) and ratio of C2 to propionic acid (C3) were lower (p<0.05) in cattle fed dietary treatments 1, 2 and 3 than in those on treatment 4. It is concluded that use of cassoy-urea pellet as a protein source in concentrates for cattle resulted in improvement of digestibility, ruminal fermentation and rumen ecology. Further research using cassoy-urea pellet in feeding trials with milking cows and fattening beef should be undertaken.