Nutrient digestibility of dairy cows fed with chopped and ensiled elephant grass

Abstract

Abstract Forage scarcity hinders the development of the dairy farm. Developing measures for preserving and optimizing forage supply are among the solutions to cope with this problem. This research aimed to evaluate nutrient digestibility of dairy cows given different forage treatments. The forage used was elephant grass (EG, Pennisetum purpureum) and subjected to four dietary treatments, i.e., intact EG (FW), chopped EG (FC), ensiled EG (SW), and ensiled and chopped EG (SC). Proximate analyses were performed on the respective treatments. The in vivo evaluation was then conducted by feeding the diets to dairy cows with a 4 × 4 Latin square design set (n=4 replications). Each period’s length was 21 days, in which the first 14 days was for feed adaptation, and the last seven days was for collecting data. Results showed that chopping and ensiling treatments improved daily feed consumption. Ensiled EG (SW and SC) resulted significantly (p<0.05) higher in dry matter, organic matter, and crude fat digestibility compared to non ensiled EG (FC and FW). Crude protein digestibility for SC treatment was significantly higher (p<0.05) among all treatments. Crude fiber digestibility for SC treatment was also significantly (P<0.05) higher among all treatments with an exemption of SW. The effectiveness of treatments on feed consumption and nutrient digestibility can be sorted, as follows SC>SW>FW>FC. It can be concluded that combination of chopping and ensiling (SC) proved the best result and thus may be implemented to preserve and optimize forage supply.