Mulberry leaves as a feed source for livestock in Kenya: A Review

In Kenya, Mulberry is grown in less than a piece of an acre by most of the farmers. Current acreage of mulberry stands at 250, spread over Western, Nyanza, and Rift Valley and Coastal regions. Mulberry leaves are highly palatable and digestible (70-90%) to ruminants and can be fed to non-ruminants as part of feed ingredient. Protein content and essential amino acid profile in the leaves and young stems varies from 15 to 35% depending on the variety. The Mulberry leaves are highly applicable as supplements replacing concentrates for dairy cattle, as the main feed for goats and sheep, and as an ingredient in rabbits and pigs’ diets. Farmers growing mulberry fodder offer higher protein content to livestock than those relying on different varieties of Napier grass, which have failed to boost milk production despite the amounts fed. In non-ruminant production, fishmeal and soybean meals are the main source of protein. In ruminant production, cottonseed meal and canola meal are the main source of protein. These meals are expensive, inadequate in supply and of variable quality. This often leads to low egg production and poor-quality eggs, hence low income and poverty among farmers. Therefore, efforts have been made to identify locally available protein feed resources that can be used as a protein supplement for livestock. Mulberry leaf meal (MLM) has been identified as a locally available alternative protein and mineral source that are beneficial to livestock and have been proven to improve production. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 11(2): 1-9, Dec 2021

Sustainable feed resources for optimizing broiler performance in tropical countries

Soybean meal and grain corn are feedstuffs that normally used as the main ingredients in poultry feeds as a source of protein and energy in tropical countries. The availability of these feedstuffs for broiler nutrition nowadays is becoming more competitive. Thus, food security, especially in the developing countries, would be susceptible. Currently, efforts are being made to use alternative feedstuffs as a sustainable feed resources to substitute portion of soybean meal and grain corn in poultry diets due to their high price since both of the raw material were imported. In Malaysia, usage of PKC is common in ruminant diets, but limited in the non-ruminant diets especially in poultry diets due to the high fiber content of PKC. Several works have been conducted to increase the nutritional contents of PKC as one of the measures to reduce and/or eliminate the constraints of utilizing PKC in poultry diets. The method used to achieve this target is either through physical, chemical, biological or combination of these treatments. This paper discusses the use of PKC as the sustainable feed resources that can be incorporated in the poultry feeds. Hence, emphasis should be given to improve nutritional values of PKC in order to reduce feeding cost of poultry.

Evaluation of rearing and feed management of native chickens in Margomulyo Village, South Lampung Regency

Up to now, native chickens have been mostly reared traditionally, with a feeding system that does not take into account the needs of the livestock. The purpose of community service is to provide advice on the rearing system and feed management for native chickens, as well as information on feed formulations. Community service activities are carried out in Margomulyo Village, Jati Agung District, South Lampung Regency, using the Participation Rural Appraisal (PRA) method, with active participation from smallholder farmers. Farmers' increased knowledge, among other things, better understands the intensive native chicken rearing system, the potential of local feed resources, and the needs of livestock and how to formulate rations for native chickens.

The Potential of Using Temperate–Tropical Crossbreds and Agricultural by-Products, Associated with Heat Stress Management for Dairy Production in the Tropics: A Review

The demand and consumption of dairy products are expected to increase exponentially in developing countries, particularly in tropical regions. However, the intensification of dairy production to meet this increasing demand has its challenges. The challenges ranged from feed costs, resources, and their utilization, as well as the heat stress associated with rearing temperate–tropical crossbred cattle in the tropics. This article focused on key nutritional and environmental factors that should be considered when temperate–tropical crossbred cattle are used in the tropics. The article also describes measures to enhance the utilization of regional feed resources and efforts to overcome the impacts of heat stress. Heat stress is a major challenge in tropical dairy farming, as it leads to poor production, despite the genetic gains made through crossbreeding of high production temperate cattle with hardy tropical animals. The dependence on imported feed and animal-man competition for the same feed resources has escalated feed cost and food security concerns. The utilization of agricultural by-products and production of stable tropical crossbreds will be an asset to tropical countries in the future, more so when scarcity of feed resources and global warming becomes a closer reality. This initiative has far-reaching impacts in the tropics and increasingly warmer areas of traditional dairying regions in the future.

Strategies for Goat Feeding and Management during Drought

Nowadays, climate change is becoming a serious problem threatening livestock production by affecting their environment, health, and feed sources. Many parts of the tropical countries, particularly the pastoralist area, experience extended periods of drought, leading to shortages of feed and water. During these periods, goats are incapable of meeting their nutrient requirement for maintenance and will begin to lose weight as body reserves are depleted, causing economic loss to the goats. In the extremely long dry season, animals die, with the youngest, weakest, and oldest dying first. As a result, drought management entails balancing pasture and water supply against forage and water demand. In most cases, no single strategy will suffice to address this issue. Each situation would need a different set of strategies Therefore, this chapter will come with some common options/ strategies that can be avail feed shortage during drought. Those strategies are purchase of feed from surplus location, adjustment of animal management, policy intervention, destocking, adjusting grazing strategies during drought, supplementation, maintenance feeding, reallocation of a given amount of feed in the herd, early weaning and creep feeding, lowering stocking rate, water sources and supplies, development and effective utilization of feed resources, and creation of feed banks.

Effect of Olive Cake and Cactus Cladodes Incorporation in Goat Kids’ Diet on the Rumen Microbial Community Profile and Meat Fatty Acid Composition

The olive cake (OC) and the cactus cladodes (CC) are two alternative feed resources widely available in the southern Mediterranean region that could be used in ruminants’ diet. Their impact on the rumen bacterial ecosystem is unknown. This work aims to evaluate their effects on the microbial community and meat fatty acids of goat’s kids. Forty-four goat kids were divided into four groups receiving diets with conventional concentrate, or 35% OC, or 30% CC, or 15% OC, and 15% CC. After 3 months, these animals were slaughtered, and the rumen liquor and longissimus dorsi and semimembranosus muscles samples were collected. Animals receiving a control diet had rumen liquor with high acidity than test groups (p < 0.001). Test rumen liquor was more adapted to digest efficiently their matching diet than control liquor (p < 0.05). These feedstuffs did not affect rumen bacteria abundance and alpha diversity (richness, evenness, and reciprocal Simpson indexes), and these results were confirmed by beta-diversity tests (NMDS plot, HOMOVA, PERMANOVA). The test diets slightly affected the individual fatty acids of meat (p < 0.05) without effect on fatty acids summaries, indexes, and ratios. Thus, these alternative feed resources could take place in goat kids’ diet to diversify their feed and to reduce feed costs.

Pengembangan Ternak Ayam Kampung Melalui Penerapan Teknologi Inseminasi Buatan dan Pemanfaatan Pakan Lokal di Kota Kendari

ABSTRACT The supply DOC of super free-range chicken in Southeast Sulawesi until now still comes from outside. This causes the DOC price to be quite high due to the high cost of transportation in the distribution process. In addition, the pandemic period also made the situation more difficult to obtain DOC from outside which had an impact on the lack of supply of super free-range chicken. Therefore, it is necessary to independently procure a source of DOC for free-range chicken. This community service aims to provide a source of information and training in the use of AI technology and the use of feed based on local feed ingredients to the community through the FPT-UHO Village Development Program. This service is carried out in a group of native chicken farmers in Mokoau Village, Kambu sub-district, Kendari City by involving various components such as community leaders, youth and government officials. This activity is carried out by means of online and offline presentations and training. The results obtained in this service are in the form of DOC (according to standards), free-range chickens that have a high body weight, free-range chicken feed based on local feed resources, scientific articles and theses. Based on the results of this activity, it can be concluded that the FPT-UHO village development program is able to improve the ability of farmers to utilize AI technology and feed processing technology based on local feed ingredients. Keywords: DOC; feed; Livestock; Super free-range chicken; Technology ABSTRAK Pasokan DOC ayam kampung super di Sulawesi Tenggara hingga saat ini masih berasal dari luar. Hal ini mengakibatkan harga DOC cukup tinggi karena mahalnya biaya transportasi dalam proses ditribusinya. Selain itu masa pandemi juga menjadikan situasi lebih sulit untuk memperoleh DOC dari luar yang berdampak pada kurangnya pasokan daging ayam kampung super. Oleh karena itu, perlu adanya pengadaan sumber DOC ayam kampung secara mandiri. Pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini bertujuan untuk memberikan sumber informasi dan pelatihan dalam pemanfaatan teknologi IB dan pemanfaatan pakan berbasis bahan pakan lokal kepada masyarakat melalui Program Bina Desa FPT-UHO. Pengabdian ini dilakukan di kelompok peternak ayam kampung di Kelurahan Mokoau, kecamatan Kambu, Kota Kendari dengan melibatkan berbagai komponen seperti tokoh masyarakat, pemuda dan aparat pemerintah. Kegiatan ini dilakukan dengan cara persentasi dan pelatihan secara daring dan luring. Hasil yang diperoleh dalam pengabdian ini berupa DOC (sesuai dengan standar), ayam kampung yang memiliki bobot badan yang tinggi, pakan ayam kampung berbasis sumber daya pakan lokal, artikel ilmiah dan skripsi. Berdasarkan hasil kegian ini, dapat disimpulkan bahwa program bina desa FPT-UHO mampu meningkatkan kemampuan peternak untuk memanfaatkan teknologi IB dan teknologi pengolahan pakan berbasis bahan pakan lokal. Kata kunci: Ayam kampung super; DOC; Pakan; Teknologi; Ternak

Rumen bacterial community profile and fermentation in Barki sheep fed olive cake and date palm byproducts

Rumen bacteria make the greatest contribution to rumen fermentation that enables the host animal to utilize the ingested feeds. Agro-industrial byproducts (AIP) such as olive cake (OC) and date palm byproducts (discarded dates (DD), and date palm fronds (DPF)) represent a practical solution to the deficiency in common feed resources. In this study, thirty-six growing Barki lambs were divided into three groups to evaluate the effect of untraditional diets including the AIP on the growth performance. Subsequently, nine adult Barki rams were used to evaluate the effect of experimental diets on rumen fermentation and rumen bacteria. Three rations were used: common concentrate mixture (S1), common untraditional concentrate mixture including OC and DD (S2), and the same concentrate mixture in S2 supplemented with roughage as DPF enriched with 15% molasses (S3). The animals in S2 group showed higher dry matter intake (DMI) and lower relative growth rate (RGR) as compared to the animals in S1 group. However, the animals in S3 group were the lowest in DMI but achieved RGR by about 87.6% of that in the S1 group. Rumen pH, acetic and butyric acids were more prevalent in animals of S3 group and rumen ammonia (NH3-N), total volatile fatty acids (TVFA), propionic acid were higher in S1. Rumen enzymes activities were higher in S1 group followed by S3 and S2. The bacterial population was more prevalent in S1 and microbial diversity was higher in the S3 group. Principal coordinate analysis revealed clusters associated with diet type and the relative abundance of bacteria varied between sheep groups. The bacterial community was dominated by phylum Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes; whereas, Prevotella, Ruminococcus, and Butyrivibrio were the dominant genera. Results indicate that diet S3 supplemented by OC, DD, and DPF could replace the conventional feed mixture.

Mangrove (Avicennia marina) leaves as an alternative feed resources for ruminants

The aim of this research was to get the best treatment for preserving of mangrove (Avicennia marina) leaves as an alternative feed resouces for ruminants. This research used experimental method using a completely randomized design (CRD) with 2 treatments and 5 replications for each treatment. The treatments are: P1 (Mangrove leaves silage) and P2 (Mangrove leaves hay). The variables observed in the in-vitro experiment were in-vitro rument fluid characteristics (pH, NH3, VFA), total gas production and methane gas production. The results of the in-vitro research showed that the P2 treatment (mangrove hay) produced : pH 6,67, VFA 83 Mm, NH3 5,44 mg/100 ml, total production gas for 48 hours 99,7 ml/hour, and methane gas production for 48 hours 65,05 ml/gr DM. From this research can be concluded that the best treatment for preservation of mangrove leaves (Avicennia marina) was the hay treatment based on the total gas and methane gas production. It can be concluded that the hay mangrove leaves (Avicennia marina) can be used as an alternative resource feed for ruminant animals.