Challenges in feeding livestock: from wastes to feed

The livestock industry is highly dependent on available and cheap feedstuff. Competition between man and animal for the same food is increasing. Subsequently, the search for alternatives to feed livestock must go on. Waste materials from agro-industry are possible alternatives to the traditional feedstuffs which are continuously increasing in price and scarsity. This paper discusses some of the methods and possible ways of using wastes products from the agricultural sector. Materials like rice straw has been used as animal feed but its use is declining. Many rice farmers no longer keep buffaloes or cattle and therefore the need to use the straw is diminishing. Palm byproducts, such as palm kernel cake, are useful and contribute towards the country's foreign exchange. About 1.7 million tonnes of palm kernel cake is exported annually bringing an income of about RM400 million. However, the livestock industry is deprived of the palm kernel cake which if used locally can support more than half a million heads of cattle. Other byproducts such as rice straw, palm fronds, rice bran and corn stover are not produced in such large quantities, but if the process of collecting and processing to improve their quality can be consolidated as a viable industry much of the feed imports can be reduced. Newer technologies need to be developed with considerations of reducing labour and related costs in the methods of collecting, processing, storage and distribution

Number and distribution of Gastrin cells in response to different diets in the pylorus of goats.

Gastrin is one of the important hormones in gastrointestinal endocrine system. Its function is to stimulate gastric acid secretion during food digestion. Gastrin is synthesised and stored in gastrin cells (G cells) located in the pylorus of the mammalian stomach. Lesser amounts are produced throughout the small and large intestine. Twenty-four Katjang-Cross goats, aged 6 mo were used in this study. The goats were divided into control and treatment groups. The control group (n=8) was fed with a diet consisting of 60% Guinea grass and 40% concentrates which included corn, soya bean meal, calcium, mineral and vitamin with crude protein of 12.8%. The first treatment group (n=8) was fed with 10% Guinea grass and 90% palm kernel cake together with calcium, mineral and vitamin with crude protein of 15.2%. The second treatment group (n=8) was fed with same diet as the goats in the first treatment group but with addition of molybdenum (40 ppm) and sulphur (100 ppm) with crude protein of 15.2% (same as treatment 1). The diets were fed to the goats for 120 d and the goats were slaughtered on the 121st day. The stomachs were removed from the carcasses of the goats and the histological slides of all four parts of the abomasum were prepared. The numbers and distribution of the gastrin cells were counted and compared between control goats and two treatment goats. There were significant differences in the means of gastrin cells between the control goats and treatment goats. Both treatment goats fed with higher protein diet has high number of gastrin cells as compared to the control goats. As for distribution of gastrin cells, positive immunoreactive gastrin cells were found only at the pyloric region of the abomasum. No gastrin cells were found in the cardia, fundus and body of abomasums. There were no specific patterns of distribution of gastrin cells in the pyloric

Effect of Gliricidia sepium leaves and molases inclusion on aerobic stability, value and digestibility of Napier grass silage

Most tropical roughage feeds are generally deficient in nitrogen, energy or some minerals and vitamins. A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of adding Gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) leaves and molasses to Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) silage. Silage were prepared from Napier grass and mixed with Gliricidia and molasses. There were four treatments involved which were NG, containing Napier grass only which was the experiment control, GS containing Napier grass mixed with 5% Gliricidia leaves, ML containing the Napier grass mixed with 5% molasses, and MG containing Napier grass mixed with 5% molasses and 5% Gliricidia leaves. The treatments were analyzed for aerobic stability, dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), and digestibility. There were no significant differences in aerobic stability of silage between treatments, and the treatments with Gliricidia were higher in crude protein (p<0.05) and had better digestibility (p<0.05) when compared to the control. In conclusion, Gliricidia leaves as additives to Napier grass silage can improve its nutritive value and quality

Effect of vitamin E, Andrographis paniculata and turmeric as dietary antioxidant supplementation on lipid and color stability of goat meat.

This study was carried out to determine the effects of dietary antioxidant supplementations of vitamin E, Andrographis paniculata Nees and Curcuma longa L. on lipid and color stability of chevon. Four dietary treatments of eight goats each were randomly assigned to basal diet 70% concentrate and 30% oil palm fronds (CN), CN + 400 mg/kg vitamin E (VE), 0.5% turmeric (TU) or 0.5% Andrographis paniculata (AP). After 14 weeks of feeding, the goats were slaughtered and goat meat was sampled, then vacuum- packaged and conditioned for three post mortem aging periods (0, 7 and 14 days) in a chiller (4 °C). Meat tenderness was improved (P < 0.05) at 14 days aging in biceps femoris (BF) muscle. All antioxidant supplements improved (P < 0.05) color of the meat. The supplementation of dietary antioxidants had significantly (P < 0.05) improved the L (lightness), a (redness), b (yellowness) as well as the chroma and hue angle values. Post mortem aging periods significantly (P < 0.05) influenced on redness, yellowness, chroma and hue angle. Similarly, the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value of the chevon was shown to be affected by the dietary supplementation of antioxidants. It is concluded that TU and AP are potential dietary antioxidant supplements like VE, for the purpose of color stability and preventing of lipid oxidation, particularly in post mortem aging periods of the biceps femoris muscle

Effect of bacteria inoculants on corn silage quality

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of bacterial inoculants on fermentation rate and quality of corn silage. There are five lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from corn silage; Lactobacillus buchneri, L. hilgardii, L. kefiri, L. oris and L. rhamnosus which were applied at ~107-108 cfu/g of fresh corn forage. The inoculated chopped corn forage was stored in approximately 12 kg-capacity polyester containers for 14, 21 and 28 days. The temperature, pH, nutrient composition and aerobic stability was determined. Inoculation LAB improved the fermentation characteristics, increased nutrient digestibility and improved aerobic stability of corn silages. The bacterial inoculants did not significantly (P>0.05) decreased pH values of the corn silages. Addition of bacterial inoculants to corn silages increased its crude protein content significantly (P<0.05) with time. However, adding bacterial inoculants also significantly (P<0.05) decreased the neutral detergent fiber content with time. After 21 days, the process of fermentation appeared to be complete for all treatments. Among the five lactic acid bacteria used, L. buchneri was identified as the best inoculants for ensiling of corn forage