The evaluation of nutrient quality of ramie leaves silage and hay in
complete mixed ration for Etawah-Crossbreed goat using in vitro
technique
Despal*, Hutabarat, I.M.L., Mutia, R. and Permana, I.G.
Faculty of Animal Science, Bogor Agricultural University
despal@ipb.ac.id
Abstract
A research have been conducted to evaluate the effect of ramie leaves silage and hay in Etawah Crossbreed (PE) goat complete mixed ration (CMR) on nutrient content, fermentability, and digestibility by in vitro. There were seven CMR dietary treatments i.e. P0 (control ration) = 50% napier grass + 50% concentrate, P1 = 30% napier grass + 20% ramie leaves silage + 50% concentrate, P2 = 20% napier grass + 30% ramie leaves silage + 50% concentrate, P3 = 10% napier grass + 40% ramie leaves silage + 50% concentrate, P4 = 30% napier grass + 20% ramie leaves hay + 50% concentrate, P5 = 20% napier grass + 30% ramie leaves hay + 50% concentrate, and P6 = 10% napier grass + 40% hay + 50% concentrate. Both ramie leaves silage and hay increased the CMR digestibility and nutrient content, except the crude fiber. Control ration had a higher crude fiber than silage and hay. The CMR which contain ramie leaves silage (40%) had higher nutrient digestibilities compared to the other rations. Rations which were added with ramie leaves silage (P1 – P3) had a higher VFA concentration compared to the other rations. Ammonia concentration of rations added with preserved ramie leaves were lower than control, however ammonia concentration in all treatments were in optimal range. Acetate proportion was higher in CMR which contain ramie leaves hay than CMR which contain silage and the nutrients digestibilities were lower. Adding ramie leaves silage in rations resulted higher propionate and butyrate proportion than control and rations which added with ramie leaves hay. Either silage or hay ramie leaves can be used up to 40% as Napier grass substitute in the PE CMR.
Keywords: Etawah goat, hay, ramie leaves, silage
Introductions
Ramie leaves are byproduct from ramie (Boehmeria nivea) plantation that produced fiber for textile raw materials. Currently, ramie plantations are widely
ramie leaves contained all major nutrients which were needed by animal (Duarte et al., 1997). Sufficiently high crude protein content (20%) and crude fibre (16%) exhibited that ramie leaves could be used as forage to fulfill dairy nutrient
requirement like PE goat. Despal (2007) explained that supplementation of dried
ramie leaves until 33% in ration based on field grass prevented sheep losing body
weight loss during dry season and gave positive growth.
Ramie leaves available periodically depend on stem harvest at 25 – 40 days interval. Harvesting occur at the same time and in great quantity. Each hectare of
ramie plantation could produce forages up to 300 ton fresh material/year (FAO,
2005) or equivalent to 42 ton dry matter. Preservation of ramie leaves was necessary
so that ramie leaves could be utilized more efficiently and being used as animal daily
feed.
General preservations of forages are wet (silage) and dry (hay) preservations.
Each technique has advantages and disadvantages. Drying with open sun drying
technique is a cheap forage conserving method. However, forage excess generally
occur at rainy season so there is a needed for technology to handle the constraint.
Whereas wet preservation (silage) is hampered by low water soluble carbohydrate
(WSC) and high water content that may produce a low quality of silage.
According to Despal and Permana (2008), ramie leaves dried by greenhouse
technique produced better quality of hay than drying by open sun drying and oven
technique. Adding dried cassava 20% (w/w) in silage ramie leaves produced better
quality of silage than silage which were added with corn and pollard. The quality of
preserved ramie leaves needed to be tested in ration.
The objective of the research was to study preserved ramie leaves using wet
and dry preservation as grass substitute in PE goat ration and their effect on nutrient
content, fermentability and in vitro digestibility.
Materials and Methods
This research was conducted from November 2008 to March 2009 at
Agrostology Laboratory, Dairy Animal Nutrition Laboratory, Department of
University, Laboratory of Inter University Center, Bogor Agricultural University,
and Laboratory of Nutrition Physiology, Animal Research Center, Ciawi.
Ramie leaves were obtained from Koperasi Pondok Pesantren (Koppontren)
Darusalam, Garut Regency. As many as 2 kg of ramie leaves, that was chopped into
a length of approximately 1,5 – 2 cm using forage chopper, added with 400 grams of dried cassava to make the silage. Silage was stored in plastic (28 x 50 cm) and
rewrapped with plastic and polybag (60 x 120 cm) to avoid light intervention. Silages
were incubated anaerobically for 35 days. After 35 days, silages were dried, ground,
and mixed in ration. Hay was made by drying ramie leaves in greenhouse for 21
hours under intensive light and the hay was twisted every 2 hours. After 21 hours
light intensities, hay was ground and mixed in ration. The forage which used in
ration was napier grass whereas the concentrate consisted of corn, pollard, rice bran,
pressed coconut cake, dried cassava, CaCO3, and DCP. Chemical composition of
ingredients which were used in complete mixed ration was appeared in Table 1.
Table 1. Ingredients and its Chemical Composition
Complete ration was mixed appropriately according to formula (Table 2).
Complete ration was formulated based on the nutrient requirement of lactating PE
having 30 kg BW and produce 1 kg milk/d (4% FCM). The ration contained 66.5%
TDN, 11.17% CP, 0.41% Ca, and 0.29% P (NRC, 1981).
Nutrients content, i.e. dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF),
ether extract (EE), and ash were analyzed according to AOAC (1999). Fermentability
and in vitro digestibility were determined as described by Tilley and Terry (1969), No. Feed Ingredient DM Ash CP EE CF TDN Ca P
--- (%) ---
1. Ramie hay 90.43 21.57 14.02 3.70 13.09 52.79 4.65 2.18
2. Ramie silage 90.10 17.90 10.20 4.41 11.10 62.30 3.98 0.17
3. Napier grass 22.20 12.00 8.69 2.71 32.30 52.40 0.48 0.35
4. Rice bran 87.70 13.60 13.00 8.64 13.90 67.90 0.09 1.39
5. Pollard 88.50 5.90 18.50 3.86 9.80 69.20 0.23 1.10
NH3 Analysis was conducted according to General Laboratory Procedure (1966), and
partial VFA were analyzed with gas chromatography using Chrompack method
(1998).
Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS 17
procedure. Significant differences between individual means were identified using
Duncan’s multiple tests.
Table 2. Formula of Dietary Treatments in Research
Results and Discussions
Nutrient Composition of Complete Ration
Proximate composition of the complete ration is presented on Table 3.
Statistical analysis showed that nutrient composition among treatments ration were
significantly different (P<0.05). Substitution between napier grass and ramie leaves
hay on level 20% decreases the DM weight of ration, but it was still higher than the
DM weight of the control ration. Substitute between napier grass and silage 20%
caused the DM weight of ration was lower than of the control ration. On higher level
substitute (30% and 40%), DM weight of ration that was produced were higher than control. The difference of ration’s DM weight was not only because of hay and silage alone, but also because of other ingredients (Table 1).
Feed Ingredient P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6
--- (%) ---
Ramie hay 0 0 0 0 20 30 40
Ramie silage 0 20 30 40 0 0 0
Napier grass 50 30 20 10 30 20 10
Rice bran 10 10 12 7.87 10 10 10
Pollard 10.39 17.67 17.85 23.16 15.64 19.74 18.42
Pressed coconut cake 7.32 11.8 13.67 15.09 5 5 5
Corn 18 9.03 5 3 13.09 7.04 5
Dried cassava 3.94 0 0 0 10 10 15
CaCO
3 0.35 1 1 0.38 1 0 0
DCP 0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.28 0 0
TDN 66.5 66.5 66.91 68 66.5 66.5 66.5
PK 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
Ca 0.41 1.518 1.879 2 1.584 1.558 1.982
Ash shows the mineral contents of the substances. Generally, substitution of
king grass with ramie increased the content. This was because of the higher
ash-content of both preserved ramie leaves compared to napier grass. The higher ramie
hay and silage on ration, the higher ash-content was. Substitution of napier grass with ramie leaves hay increased the ration’s ash-content higher compared to substitution with silage. This was because of the ash-content on ramie leaves hay was higher than
on ramie leaves silage (Table 1). Ash-content of ramie leaves was dominated by Ca
that ranging from 4 – 5%. High content of 6% Ca on ramie leaves was also reported by Duarte et al. (1997). The high content of Ca on ramie leaves was expected to be more available for dairy animals than inorganic Ca that usually added in ration
(McDowell, 2003).
Ration fat-content (EE) that contained both preserved ramie leaves (silage and
hay) were not different with control. Ration containing 40% silage had higher EE
content than control and ration containing hay on every level. Because of that, the
higher silage level that was added, the higher EE content was on ration. On the
contrary, the higher hay level added, the lower EE content was. Crude fat-content on
ration was high because of the high percentage of pressed coconut cake (Table 2).
Table 3. Nutrient Composition of Complete Ration
Different superscript in the same column differ significantly (P < 0.05).
Ration containing hay ramie leaves had a higher CP content than control. Hay
ramie leaves contained of 14.01% crude protein were able to increase the CP content
of the ration significantly. Eventhough, it was not obviously different, ration
containing silage ramie leaves had a higher CP content than control. There was no
obvious different caused by the level of hay-added on CP content of ration. The low
caused ramie ensilage to have content of 10.2% CP, which was not really different
with napier grass (8.9%).
Ration that consisted of preserved ramie leaves had a lower CF content than
control. This was because of lower CF content on preserved ramie leaves compared
to napier grass.
The higher use of preserved ramie leaves (hay or silage) in the ration, the lower
crude fiber-content on ration was. The lower crude fiber-content on ration was
expected to cause a higher digestibility. According to Despal (2000), crude fiber had
a negative correlation to digestibility. The lower crude fiber was, the higher
digestibility of the ration was. But, the very low crude fiber on dairy animal ration
can intrude the syntheses of milk fat that impacted on the lowering of milk
production. This was because of the low content of crude fiber deliver the VFA
pattern that has more proportion of molar propionate acid. Propionate was much
more used as energy reserve and a bit as syntheses of milk fat. Seymour et al. (2005) reported that the content of milk fat had a negative correlation with propionate and
butyrate content of the diet but had a positive correlation with acetate.
Fermentability and Digestibility
Ration fermentability can be measured by VFA production as the product of
organic matter fermentation and NH3 as the fermentation product from protein. VFA
was the main energy source to ruminant livestock and was an output from the ration
fermentation on rumen (Orskov and Ryle, 1990). On that account, VFA production
on rumen could be used as an indicator on ration fermentability (Hartati, 1998). VFA
profile (molar proportion of VFA) that yielded could be used to describe whether a
ration was approprioate to the livestock. The influence of adding ramie leaves silage
and hay on ration fermentability was shown on Table 4.
Statistical analysis resulted that organic matter and protein fermentability of the
ration were not showing any different among treatments (P>0.05).
Table 4: Fermentability of complete ration
Perlakuan VFA (mM/L)
)*
NH3
(mM/L) Acetate Propionate Isobutyrate Butyrate Isovalerate Total
According to Sutardi (1980), the optimal range of ration VFA was 80-160
mM. Total VFA that yielded in this study was so low compared to range of VFA that
was needed for the optimal growth of rumen microorganism. This was because of the
different measurement method, in case on this research VFA was measured by GC,
whereas on Sutardi (1980), the measurement was done using steam destilation. The
low values of VFA on measurement using GC were also found by Despal (2005);
Madrid et al., (1999); and McCullough and Sisk (1972). On steam distillation
methods, all volatile substances are counted as VFA, but not in VFA measured using
GC.
Ration containing hay was less fermentable than ration containing silages.
This was because of microorganism activity on the ensilage helped digesting the
feedstuffs and caused silage in the rumen system more fermentable. The same result
was also found by Schingoethe et al. (1976).
Acetic acid was present in greatest amount and the proportion of propionic
acid usually exceeded that of butyric (Balch and Rowland, 1956). Acetate
proportions to total VFA of the respective rations were 76.5%; 73.9%; 71.1%;
69.9%; 73.4%, 77.9% and 75.6%. The use of silage (P1 – P3) gave a lower acetate proportion than control. The higher use of silage on ration, the lower acetate
proportion was. This was because of the lower content of CF in silage containing
ration compare to control (McCullough and Sisk, 1972). The use of hay on certain
level might reduce acetate proportion, however not as much as on silage. On the use
of hay as much as 30%, acetate proportion was seen higher compared to control. The
high proportion of acetate on the use of hay can be found on Esdale et al. (1968). Ammonia was the main source of nitrogen to synthesize the microorganism’s protein, so its concentration on rumen was a case that had to be observed (Satter and
Slyter, 1974). According to McDonald et al. (2002), the range of NH3 optimal concentration to synthesize the rumen microorganism’s protein was 6 – 21 mM. The
P1 26,31 5,47 0,37 3,16 0,31 35,62 10,30
P2 27,74 6,56 0,58 3,75 0,40 39,03 10,62
P3 24,78 6,38 0,39 3,65 0,27 35,47 9,67
P4 22,57 4,57 0,52 2,93 0,15 30,74 8,42
P5 25,27 4,13 0,47 2,37 0,19 32,43 9,70
NH3 that yielded from protein fermentation on the experimental rations were on
optimal range for the growth of livestock and not excessive.
Digestibility was an early indication on the availability of nutrients in certain
feed to livestock (Yusmadi, 2008). The influence on hay-added and silage-added to
ration on in vitro digestibility is shown on Table 5. Statistical analysis resulted that ration treatment highly influential (P<0.01) to ration DM and OM digestibility.
Table 5: In vitro digestibility of complete ration
Treatments DMD (%) OMD (%)
P0 61,21a 60,40a
P1 66,33abc 66,22abc
P2 69,53bc 69,25c
P3 71,91c 72,33c
P4 66,81abc 67,44bc
P5 61,63ab 61,89ab
P6 65,00ab 66,14abc
Different superscripts at the same column showing significant differences at P < 0.01.
Ramie leaves silage-added to ration increased the DM and OM digestibility in
line with the increasing level. The increasing of digestibility also happened on hay
ramie leaves-added however not as much as on silage. Moreover, on 30% hay-added
on ration gave a relative same digestibility to control. A higher digestibility of silage
compared to hay was also found by Yusmadi (2008). Dry matter and organic matter
pattern was inversely proportional to CF ration. The higher CF was, the lower
digestibility was. This case was in mutual according to Despal (2000).
The increasing of OM digestibility was in line with increasing of DM
digestibility. As reported by Sutardi (1980), because of most components of DM
were consisted of OM so that factors that influenced DM digestibility, could also
influence OM digestibility.
Conclusions
Ramie leaves silage and hay used as substitute for napier grass may improve
ramie leaves silage and hay lower than control, fermentability in all ration still in
optimal range. Acetate proportion was higher on hay ramie leaves substitution
though it had a lower digestibility than on silage. Either silage and hay ramie leaves
can be used up to 40% as Napier grass substitute in Etawah TMR.
References
AOAC. 1999. Official methods of Analysis. AOAC International. Washington.
Balch, D. A. and S. J. Rowland. 1956. Volatile fatty acids and lactic acid in the rumen of dairy cows receiving a variety of diets. Nutr. 11 : 288 – 298.
Crompack. 1998. Reference Manual CP-9002 Gas Chromatograph. Middleburgh. Netherland.
Conway, E. J. 1957. Microdiffusion of Analysis of Association Official Analytical Chemist. Georgia Press. Georgia.
Despal. 2000. Kemampuan komposisi kimia dan kecernaan in vitro dalam mengestimasi kecernaan in vivo. Media Peternakan 23 (3): 84 – 88.
Despal. 2005. Nutritional Properties of Urea Treated Cocoa Pod for Ruminant. Cuvillier Verlag. Goettingen.
Despal. 2007. Suplementasi nutrient defisien untuk meningkatkan penggunaan daun rami (Boehmeria nivea L. Gaud) dalam ransum domba. Media Peternakan 30 (3): 181-188.
Duarte, A. A, V.C. Sgarbieri and E. R. B. Juniar. 1997. Composition and nutritive value of ramie leaf flour for monogastric animals. Revista PAB : 32 (12).
Esdale, W. J., G. A. Broderick, and L. D. Satter. 1968. Measurement of ruminal volatile fatty acid production from alfalfa hay or corn silage rations using a continuous infusion isotope dilution technique. J. Dairy Science 51 (11) : 1823 – 1830. Holstein jantan. Disertasi. Program Pasca Sarjana. IPB. Bogor.
Madrid, J., M.D. Megias dan F. Hernandez. 1999. Determination of short volatile fatty acids in silages from artichoke and orange by-products by capillary gas chromatography. J. Sci. Food Agric 79: 580-584.
McDonald, P. R. A., Edwards J. F. D. Greenhalge and C. A. Morgan. 2002. Animal nutrition. 6th Edition. Longman Science and Technology. New York.
McDowell, Lee Russell. 2003. Minerals In Animal and Human Nutrition. 2nd Edition. Elseivier Science. Amsterdam.
NRC. 1981. Nutrient Requirement of Goat. National Academy Press. USA.
Orskov, E.R and Ryle M. 1990. Energy Nutrition In Ruminant. Elseivier. London.
Schingoethe, D. J., H. H. Voelker, G. L. Beardsley, and J. G. Parsons. 1976. Rumen volatile fatty acids and milk composition from cows fed hay, haylage, or urea-treated corn silage. J. Dairy Sci. 59 (5) : 894 – 901.
Satter, L. and L. L Slyter. 1974. Effect of` amonia concentration on rumen microbial protein production in vitro. Br. J. Nutr. 32 : 199 – 208.
Sutardi, T. 1980. Landasan Ilmu Nutrisi. Jilid I. Fakultas Peternakan. Institut Pertanian Bogor. Bogor.
Sutardi, T. 1988. Sapi Perah dan Pemberian Makanannya. Ilmu Nutrisi Makanan Ternak. Institut Pertanian Bogor. Bogor.
Sutardi, T. 2001. Revitalisasi peternakan sapi perah melalui penggunaan ransum berbasis limbah perkebunan dan suplemen mineral organik. Laporan Akhir RUT VIII. Institut Pertanian Bogor. Bogor.
Tilley, J. M. A. and R. A. Terry. 1969. A two stage technique for the in vitro digestion of forage crop. J. British Grassland Society 18 : 104-111.
Seymour, W. M., D.R. Campbella, and Z.B. Johnson. 2005. Relationships between rumen volatile fatty acid concentrations and milk production in dairy cows : a literature study. Animal Feed Science and Technology 119 : 155–169.
