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Herbage and Small Ruminant Productivity of Selected Grasses, Legumes, and their Combinations under Bukidnon Condition
Dissertation Abstract:
Three studies were conducted to determine the herbage and small ruminant productivity of selected grasses, legumes, and their combinations under conditions in Bukidnon, the Philippines. Napier (Pennisetum purpureum), guinea (Panicum maximum), stargrass (Cyonodon plectostachyus), centro (Centrosema pubescens) and stylo (Stylosanthes guyanensis) as well as their combinations were studied for their dry matter production (t/ha/yr), botanical composition, leaf-to-stem ratio, chemical composition, (CP, NDF, ADF, cellulose, lignin, silica), digestibility (in vitro, in vivo and crude protein) while guinea/centro, guinea/stylo, star/stylo and napier/stylo were studied as to their effects on goats in terms of liveweight changes, average daily gain, feed efficiency, dry matter intake, and crude protein intake.
Guinea/stylo had the highest dry matter production (18.59t/ha/yr; p < .01). Botanical composition was better in napie for pure stands and star/stylo grass/legume combination was closest to the ideal 70:30 ratio. Centro was more leafy among the pure stands with stargrass combinations having broadest leaf to stem ratio.
The legumes (stylo and centro) had the highest CP (p < .01) for the pure stands while the star/stylo had the highest CP content among the grass/legume combination. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) differed significantly among treatment means with stargrass having the highest NDF. ADF (p < .01) was highest in guinea; stargrass had the highest cellulose; centro had the highest (p < .01) lignin content while Napier had the highest (p < .01) silica content. Stylo had the highest (p < .01) digestibility in terms of in vitro, in vivo, and crude protein together with centro, while star/centro had the least digestibility.
Non-significant differences were observed average daily gain and feed efficiency. Dry matter intake (kgs, % of body weight or % of metabolic body weight) was highly and significantly different (p < .01) with goats fed with star/stylo performing best among others. Crude protein intake followed the same trend.