The effects of elephant grass silage combined with indigofera sp. On the performance of bali cattle

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the effect of elephant grass silage combined with different levels of Indigofera sp. on body weight gain, intake and feed conversion ratio. Twenty-five individually caged Bali cattle were used in this study, allocated to five treatment groups consisting of five animals in each group following a randomized complete design. The treatments were T1: Elephant grass silage 100% + Indigofera sp. 0%; T2: Elephant grass silage 70% + Indigofera sp. 30%; T3: Elephant grass silage 60% + Indigofera sp. 40%; T4: Elephant grass silage 50% + Indigofera sp. 50%; and T5: Elephant grass silage 40% + Indigofera sp. 60%. Variables measured were the quality of silage and the performance of Bali cattle fed various dietary treatments. The results showed that the physical characteristics of silage were similar for all treatments. The silage was brown to greenish in colour, had minimum odour from the formation of lactic acid, had solid texture, and was compact. There was no mould growth in the silage, and pH ranged from 3.7 to 4.1. Increasing levels of Indigofera sp. added to elephant grass increased the crude protein content of silage, but decreased the content of ash, acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin by up to 40%. Dry matter intake per kg unit of BW was higher (P < 0.000) in the T2, T3, and T4 diet than in the T1 or T5 diets. The crude protein intake per kg unit of BW was higher (P<0.000) in the T3, T4, T5 diet than T1 and T2. Animals on the T3 diet showed a higher (P < 0.05) daily BW gain followed by the animals on the T4 and T5 diets. It can be concluded that the combination of 60% elephant grass and 40% Indigofera sp. has the best physical and chemical qualities and is able to increase the daily body weight of Bali cattle.