Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar

In Vivo Studies on the Complementarity between
Forage Basal Diets and Legume Supplements
Wilson Quiñonez, Patricia Avila, and Carlos Lascano
CIAT, Colombia
Previous results from confined feeding trials suggested that when
supplementing available forage sources on the farm to overcome nutrient
deficiencies in ruminants, it is important to synchronize feeding of the
higher quality forage supplement with the basal forage so that energy and
protein are available concurrently. Also, synergism among forages may vary
not only with the types of forages fed but also with how they are fed (for
example, amount and frequency).
Materials and Methods
Eight African type wethers (24 kg LW, on average) were fed a low-quality
basal grass diet, and were randomly allocated to four supplementation
treatments, arranged in a 4 x 4 Latin square design, consisting of sugarcane
(60%) mixed with Cratylia argentea (40%). Treatments were as follows: T1,
low level of supplementation (0.5% LW) fed once a day (a.m.); T2, high level
of supplementation (1.0% LW) fed once a day (a.m.); T3, low level of
supplementation (0.5% LW) fed twice a day (a.m.+ p.m.); and T4, high level
of supplementation (1% LW) fed twice a day (a.m. + p.m.). Measurements
included quality of the basal diet, intake of supplements offered,
digestibility, and N balance.
Results
The low-quality basal grass diet was low in CP (4.8%) and high in cell
wall content (79% NDF and 44% ADF). On the other hand, chopped
sugarcane, fed as an energy supplement, was low in CP (3.1%) but had low
cell wall content (39% NDF and 24% ADF). The legume (Cratylia leaves) fed
had high CP (21%) and high cell wall contents (67% NDF and 37% ADF).
Thus the supplement fed was high in energy and medium in protein (10%
dry basis). Intake of the basal diet did not differ among treatments, but
there were differences in supplement intake due to treatments. As expected,
intake of sugarcane and Cratylia tended to be higher when fed at the highest
level. However, it is interesting to note that when supplements were offered
at the high level, intake of sugarcane and Cratylia increased with twice-aday
feeding compared with once-a-day feeding (Table 1).
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