Potential use of lemongrass (cymbopogon winterianus) residue as dairy cow feed

Abstract

Cymbopogon winterianus (lemongrass) is a plant native to Indonesia that is able to produce essential oil as its secondary metabolite. Nevertheless, the residue of Cymbopogon after distillation to extract the essential oil is currently not being valorized. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate the potential use of Cymbopogon residue as dairy cow feed. Results from the proximate test confirm that Cymbopogon residue nutritional content meets the requirement of Indonesian National Standard for cattle feed. In vitro test also shows good results for gas production (32.33 mL/200 mg), VFA (187 mM), NH3 production (28.65 mM), DMD (64.75%) and OMD (73.57%) content. It is also demonstrated that the use of Cymbopogon residue as feed for cows increased 23% of the milk production. Hence, this study suggests that the Cymbopogon residue has the potential to replace the conventional feed source (rice straw only) in ruminant diets.