Comparative In Vitro Digestibility Values Of Plain Maize And Intercropped Maize X High Protein Forage Legumes Silages Given To Early Lactating Cows In Chitomborwizi.
- Author
- Mapolisa, Tichaona
- Title
- Comparative In Vitro Digestibility Values Of Plain Maize And Intercropped Maize X High Protein Forage Legumes Silages Given To Early Lactating Cows In Chitomborwizi.
- Abstract
-
During the winter season, small-scale dairy farmers in Zimbabwe face livestock nutritional challenge due to the decline of the forage nutritive value. This study aimed to evaluate the energy values (DE and ME) for plain maize silage (control) and intercropped maize x forage legume (cowpeas and velvet beans) mixed silages fed to dairy cows in Chitomborwizi. Also, the study analysed the relationship between CP and CF with metabolisable and digestible energy. Laboratory data (proximate analysis) from a total of 29 samples of feed from 7 farmers was used in the analysis. 38% of the samples obtained from the farmers were from commercial sources, while 62% were home-made. Of these samples, 48% were concentrates, 31% were plain maize, 10% were maize mixed with cowpea, and 10% were maize mixed with velvet beans. Mean DE (mj/kg) and ME (mj/kg) values were low for plain maize silage. Intercropped maize x cowpea silage had higher mean DE (11.45) and ME (10.13), intercropped maize x velvet beans had DE (10.30) and ME (9.20) and plain maize silage had DE (8.95) and ME (8.14). The results show that there was a statistically significant difference in energy values between plain maize silage and intercropped maize x cowpea silage (p < 0.05) and there was a statistically significant difference between energy values for plain maize silage and intercropped maize x velvet beans mixed silage (p < 0.05). There was a correlation between metabolisable energy and crude protein content (p ≤ 0.045), for a unit increase in crude protein content the metabolisable energy increases by approximately 0.733. There was a correlation between digestible energy levels and crude protein levels (p ≤ 0.05), for a unit increase in the crude protein levels, the digestible energy increases by approximately 0.27.
- Date
- JUNE 2024
- Publisher
- BUSE
- Keywords
- Plain Maize, Vitro Digestibility, Intercropped Maize
- Supervisor
- Mr. B Gabi
- Item sets
- Department of Animal Sciences
