Energy supplements for leucaena

Authors

  • Karen Harper School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, Australia.
  • Simon P. Quigley School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, Australia.
  • Risa Antari Beef Cattle Research Institute, Grati, Indonesia.
  • - Dahlanuddin University of Mataram, Lombok, Indonesia.
  • Tanda Sahat Panjaitan The East Nusa Tenggara Assessment Institute for Agriculture Technology, Kupang, Indonesia.
  • - Marsetyo Tadulako University, Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
  • Dennis P. Poppi School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, Australia.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17138/tgft(7)182-188

Abstract

Keynote paper presented at the International Leucaena Conference, 1‒3 November 2018, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Leucaena can be fed as the sole diet to fattening cattle without nutritional problems and it will promote high liveweight gains. The high crude protein concentration in leucaena suggests that energy supplements, which are readily fermented in the rumen, could be used to capture the excess rumen degradable protein and provide more microbial protein and metabolizable energy to the animal, further increasing liveweight gain or milk production. This approach has been tested in grazing cattle and also in cut-and-carry systems in Australia and Indonesia. In both systems, production (liveweight gain or milk production) increased with the addition of supplements containing large amounts of fermentable meta-
bolizable energy. The substitution of the basal diet (leucaena or leucaena mixed with grass or crop residues) by the supplement also means that more animals can be carried in the system for a set amount or area of leucaena. The same principles would apply to any tree legume-based system. Energy supplements can come in many forms, viz. fermentable starch (cereal grains and cassava), sugars (molasses), pectins (soybean hulls and pulps) and fibre (rice bran, cassava bagasse), but they have not been compared for their efficacy nor for their economic benefit, if any, in these systems.

How to Cite

Harper, K., Quigley, S. P., Antari, R., Dahlanuddin, .-., Panjaitan, T. S., Marsetyo, .-., & Poppi, D. P. (2019). Energy supplements for leucaena. Tropical Grasslands-Forrajes Tropicales, 7(2), 182–188. https://doi.org/10.17138/tgft(7)182-188

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Published

2019-05-31

Issue

Section

ILC2018 Session 3: Feeding and management for animal production