• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.725-732
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• 2007

The effects of supplementing Gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus) with varying levels of hay from cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) and dried cassava root chip on growth and diet digestibility were studied using local male goats with an average initial body weight of 14.0 kg. Thirty-two animals were allocated to a completely randomized $2{\times}2$ factorial design with eight animals per treatment. The factors were two levels of cassava hay (25% and 35% of an expected dry matter (DM) intake of 3% of body weight) and cassava root chips (0 or 1% of body weight) on an individual basis with grass offered ad libitum. Another four animals were assigned to a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design to study digestibility, and were given the same four diets as in the growth experiment. Total DM intake was significantly higher in the group fed diets with cassava hay and root while the DM intake of Gamba grass was not significantly different between treatments. The supplementation with cassava hay and root increased the apparent digestibility of DM, organic matter and N and resulted in a higher N-retention. The apparent digestibility of neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fiber was not affected significantly. The average daily gain of animals fed diets supplemented with both cassava hay and root was significantly higher than for the animals supplemented with cassava hay alone. The highest daily gain recorded was 70 g/day. In conclusion, supplementing a basal diet of Gamba grass with cassava hay and root chips improved DM intake, digestibility, N-retention and weight gain. In order to minimize the waste of cassava hay, the inclusion level of cassava hay can be recommended to be 25% of expected DM intake, which would give acceptable intake and growth performance when cassava root is included in the diet.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.463-472
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• 2003

Cassava (Manihot esculenta, Crantz), an annual tropical tuber crop, was nutritionally evaluated as a foliage for ruminants, especially dairy cattle. Cultivation of cassava biomass to produce hay is based on a first harvest of the foliage at three months after planting, followed every two months thereafter until one year. Inter-cropping of leguminous fodder as food-feed between rows of cassava, such as Leucaena leucocephala or cowpea (Vigna unculata), enriches soil fertility and provides additional fodder. Cassava hay contained 20 to 25% crude protein in the dry matter with good profile of amino acids. Feeding trials with cattle revealed high levels of DM intake (3.2% of BW) and high DM digestibility (71%). The hay contains tannin-protein complexes which could act as rumen by - pass protein for digestion in the small intestine. As cassava hay contains condensed tannins, it could have subsequent impact on changing rumen ecology particularly changing rumen microbes population. Therefore, supplementation with cassava hay at 1-2 kg/hd/d to dairy cattle could markedly reduce concentrate requirements, and increase milk yield and composition. Moreover, cassava hay supplementation in dairy cattle could increase milk thiocyanate which could possibly enhance milk quality and milk storage, especially in small holder-dairy farming. Condensed tannins contained in cassava hay have also been shown to potentially reduce gastrointestinal nematodes in ruminants and therefore could act as an anthelmintic agent. Cassava hay is therefore an excellent multi-nutrient source for animals, especially for dairy cattle during the long dry season, and has the potential to increase the productivity and profitability of sustainable livestock production systems in the tropics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1424-1432
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• 2007

Two male, rumen fistulated crossbred Brahman-Thai native beef cattle (body weight = $400{\pm}50$ kg), fed on rice straw as a source of roughage, were used as rumen fluid sources. The treatments were $2{\times}3$ factorial arrangements; two roughages (fresh cassava foliage and cassava hay) and three sulfur levels (elemental sulfur) at 0.2 (control), 0.5 and 1% of DM, respectively. The experiment revealed that the rates (c) of gas production, ammonia-nitrogen concentration, true digestibility, total concentration or molar proportions of VFA and microbial biomass were not significantly different between cassava hay and fresh cassava foliage. However, all parameters for cassava hay were higher than for fresh cassava foliage. The supplementation of 0.5% sulfur to fresh cassava foliage resulted in a significant increase in the rate of gas production, true digestibility, total concentration of VFA, microbial biomass, rate of HCN disappearance, thiocyanate appearance and cyanide percentage conversion into thiocyanate. However, there were no effects of sulfur supplementation at 0.2, 0.5 and 1% to cassava hay. The finding suggests the utilization of cassava foliage for rumen microorganisms in terms of fermentation and HCN detoxification could be improved by sulfur supplementation of 0.5% of DM.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.695-698
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• 2006

Six, one-year old dairy steers were randomly divided into two groups according to a Completely randomized design (CRD) to receive high-quality feed block (HQFB) without cassava hay and drenching (HQFB1+Ivomex) and HQFB with cassava hay (HQFB2) as block licks while grazing on Ruzi grass pasture. During the eight weeks, fecal parasitic egg counts dramatically declined for both treatment groups with 63.2 and 27.6% reduction from initial period for HQFB1+Ivomex and HQFB2, respectively. However, digestion of coefficients of nutrients particularly OM, were significantly higher in HQFB2 than, those in HQFB1+Ivomex, in addition, ADG of animals in HQFB2 tended to be higher than the group on HQFB1. It was, hence concluded that cassava hay could not only provide as a protein source but also serve as an anthelmintic in ruminants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.799-807
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• 2004

The objective of this field experiment was to investigate the growth, hay yield and chemical composition of cassava and stylo 184 grown under intercropping. The experiment was arranged in a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) design with 5 treatments and 4 replications. The treatments were: sole crop cassava (C); sole crop stylo 184 (S) and three intercropping treatments comprising an additive series of one (SC), two (SSC) and three (SSSC) rows of stylo 184 to one row of cassava. The results showed that leaf area per plant (LA) of cassava was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the sole crop relative to the intercropping treatments. Both total hay yield and CPDM yield were significantly higher (p<0.05) for C treatment and lower (p<0.05) for SSSC treatment. The total hay yield and CPDM yield were significantly greater (p<0.05) in the sole crop relative to the intercropping treatments. At the first and second harvests, CP content was similar among treatments; while at third and fourth harvests, CP contents were significantly greater (p<0.05) for the intercropping treatment relative to the sole crop. At the first and second harvest, NDF contents were significantly greater (p<0.05) in the sole crop relative to the intercropping treatments, whereas NDF contents were similar among intercropping treatments. Leaf area of stylo 184 at first and second harvest were significantly greater (p<0.05) for C, SC and SSC as compared with the SSSC treatments. At each harvesting, there were no significant differences in ash, CP, NDF, ADF and ADL contents of stylo 184 hay between the sole crop and intercropping treatments, except for the first harvest. ADF contents were significantly greater (p<0.05) in S, SC treatments relative to SSC and SSSC treatments. Both collective hay yield and CPDM yield of cassava and stylo 184 were significantly greater (p<0.05) for the SSC treatment and significantly lower (p<0.05) for the S treatment. Collective hay yield and CPDM yield were significantly greater (p<0.05) for the intercropping treatments relative to the sole crop. Based on this research, it was concluded that stylo 184 showed potential for intercropping with cassava. Intercropping cassava with stylo 184 has beneficial effects and can improve foliage biomass yield and soil fertility, which would be a more sustainable system than growing the cassava as a pure stand. In terms of hay yield and CP production, two rows of stylo 184 to one row of cassava could be the optimal pattern for this intercropping system.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1763-1769
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• 2003

Two experiments were conducted to examine the production and quality of cassava hay and its utilization in diets for dairy cows. In experiment I, a $2{\times}2$ Factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications was carried out to determine the effects of different initial (IC) and subsequent cutting (SC) on yield and composition of cassava plant. The results revealed that cassava could produce from 4 to 7 tonne of DM and 1.2 to 1.6 tonne of CP for the first six months after planting. CP content in cassava plant ranged from 20.8 to 28.5% and was affected by different SC regimes. Condensed tannin in cassava foliage ranged from 4.9 to 5.5%. Initial cutting at 2 months with subsequent cutting at 2 month intervals was the optimal to obtain high dry matter and protein yield. In the second experiment, five crossbred Holstein-Friesian cows in mid lactation with an initial live-weight of 505${\pm}6.1kg$ and average milk yield of 10.78${\pm}1.2kg/d$ were randomly assigned in a $5{\times}5$ Latin square design to study the effects of 2 levels of CH (1 and 2 kg/hd/d) and concentrate (1 to 2 kg of milk and 1 to 3 kg of milk) on milk yield and milk composition. The results showed that cassava hay increased rumen $NH_3-N$ and milk urea nitrogen (MUN) (p<0.05). Cassava hay tended to increase milk production and 4% FCM. Milk protein increased in cows fed cassava hay (p<0.05). Moreover, cassava hay could reduce concentrate levels in dairy rations thus resulting in increased economic returns. Cassava hay can be a good source of forage to reduce concentrate supplementation and improve milk quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.42-50
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• 2008

Twenty-four, lactating dairy cows were randomly assigned according to a Rrandomized complete block design (RCBD) to investigate the effect of sunflower oil supplementation (SFOS) with cassava hay based-diets on feed intake, digestibility of nutrients, rumen fermentation efficiency and milk production. The treatments were as follows: T1 = Control, using commercial concentrate as a supplement (CON); T2 = Concentrate with cassava hay (CHSO-0); T3 = Concentrate with cassava hay and 2.5% sunflower oil (CHSO-2.5); T4 = Concentrate with cassava hay and 5% sunflower oil (CHSO-5). The cows were offered concentrate feed at a ratio of concentrate to milk production of 1:2 and urea-treated rice straw was fed ad libitum. The results revealed that feed intake, digestibility of nutrients and ruminal pH were similar among all treatments, while ruminal NH3-N was lower (p<0.05) with SFOS. Blood urea-N (BUN) and milk urea-N (MUN) were not significantly affected by SFOS. The ruminal concentrations of volatile fatty acids were significantly different among the treatments. Sunflower oil supplementation significantly increased concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids, and ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids in the milk, particularly the conjugated fatty acids, was significantly enhanced. Furthermore, production costs of treatments with sunflower oil supplementation were lower than for the control. Based on this study, SFOS in cassava hay based-diets improves rumen ecology, milk yield and milk quality, especially in terms of conjugated linoleic acids.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.478-482
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• 2000

Whole cassava (Manihot esculenta, Crantz) crop was harvested about 10-15 cm above ground at 3 months after planting and sun dried for 1-3 days or until the leaves were crispy-dried and the branches and stems were mostly wilted to produce cassava hay. Cassava hay (CH) contained 86.3% DM, 8.9% ash, 23.6% CP, 44.3% NDF, 30.0% ADF, 5.8% ADL, 0.257% condensed tannin and 0.35 mg % HCN, respectively. In addition, CH contained relatively higher amino acid than alfalfa hay especially methionine, isoleucine, leucine and lysine. Ruminal fermentation of CH resulted in high concentrations of $C_2$, $C_3$, and $C_4$ at 72, 17 and 7 mol/100 mole, respectively. A feeding trial was conducted to study on effect of feeding of cassava hay in late lactating dairy cows fed on urea-treated rice straw during the dry season on their intake, ruminal pH, $NH_3$-N, milk yield and compositions. Thirty, Holstein-Friesian crossbred cows in their first lactation were randomly assigned in a randomized complete block design to receive five different dietary treatments: T1=supplementation of concentrate to milk yield at 1:2, T2=supplementation of concentrate to milk yield at 1:2+0.56 kg DM, T3=supplementation of concentrate to milk yield at 1:3+1.3 kg DM CH, T4=supplementation of concentrate to milk yield at 1:4+1.70 kg DM CH, T5=CH fed on ad libitum+small concentrate supplement. All cows received urea-treated rice straw as a roughage source throughout a 80 d feeding trial. The experiment revealed that cassava hay contained high level of protein and minimal level of tannin at 3 months of harvest. Tannin intake ranged from 1.44 to 13.36 g/hd/d and did not affect on urea-treated rice straw intake. Milk yield across treatments were similar (5.4-6.3 kg/hd/d) (p>0.05) but 3.5% FCM was highest in cows received CH at 1.70 kg/hd/d. Feeding of cassava hay resulted in increasing milk fat (4.0 to 4.6%) (p<0.05) and milk protein (3.8 to 5.3%) (p<0.05). Moreover, the use of CH could reduce concentrate supplementation to milk yield from 1:2 to 1:4, respectively, thus resulted in more milk income return.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1366-1376
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• 2009

Effect of sulfur (S) on utilization efficiency of fresh cassava foliage and cassava hay in dairy cows was evaluated using thirty-two $1^{st}-2^{nd}$ lactation Holstein-Friesian crossbred dairy cows. The experimental treatment was a 2${\times}$2 factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) using two roughages (rice straw+fresh cassava foliage (FCF) and rice straw+cassava hay (CH)) and two elemental sulfur (S) levels (0.15 and 0.4% S of dry matter (DM)), respectively. Four dietary treatments (FCF+0.15, FCF+0.4, CH+0.15 and CH+0.4) were offered ad libitum in the form of a total mixed ration (TMR) with concentrate to roughage (chopped rice straw+chopped cassava foliage) ratio at 60:40. Fresh cassava foliage or cassava hay resulted in similar dry mater intake, rumen ecology parameters, total tract digestibility, blood chemistry, milk production and composition. However, HCN intake, blood and milk thiocyanate concentration were significantly higher (p<0.01) in cows fed fresh cassava foliage with no sign of potential toxicity. Dry matter intake, body weight changes, molar percentage of propionate in rumen, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility and nitrogen (N) retention of cows tended to be increased while DM digestibility (65.6, 72.7, 68.6 and 72.1% of total DM intake for the respective treatments), rumen bacteria population (1.4, 1.7, 1.6 and $1.7{\times}10^{11}$ cell/ml for respective treatments), fungal zoospore population (0.4, 0.6, 0.4 and $0.5{\times}10^{6}$ cell/ml for respective treatments), urinary allantoin (25.3, 28.0, 26.3 and 27.6 g/d for respective treatments), microbial N yield (136.0, 154.6, 142.8 and 151.3 g N/d for respective treatments) and milk protein content (3.4, 3.5, 3.2 and 3.5% for respective treatments) were significantly (p<0.05) higher in cows fed on supplemented sulfur at 0.4% of DM in comparison with 0.15% S-supplemented diets. Based on these results, it is concluded that cassava foliage could be used as a portion of roughage for dairy cows and supplementation of S would be nutritionally beneficial.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.600-604
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• 2000

Exp. I, the study was conducted to examine the supplementation levels of cassava hay (CH) in dairy cows. Six multiparous Holstein-Friesian crossbreds were paired and randomly assigned in a change-over design to receive three levels of CH supplement at 0, 0.8 and 1.7 kg DM/hd/d. Concentrate was supplemented at the same level (1:2; concentrate:milk yield) while urea-treated (5%) rice straw was offered on ad libitum basis. The results revealed that supplementation of CH could significantly reduce concentrate use resulting in similar milk yield (12.5, 12.12 and 12.6 kg/hd/d) and significantly enhanced 3.5% FCM (14.21, 15.70, 14.9 kg/d, respectively). Moreover, CH supplementation significantly increased milk fat and milk protein percentages especially at 1.70 kg/hd/d. Concentrate use could be significantly reduced by 27% at 1.7 kg/hd/d CH supplementation. Exp. II, supplementation of cassava hay to replace concentrate use was studied in lactating-Holstein Friesian crossbreds grazed on Ruzi grass. Six multiparous cows in mid-lactating periods were paired and randomly assiged according to a change-over-design to receive three dietary treatments, $T_1=0kg$ cassava hay (CH) in 1:2 concentrate supplementation (CS) to milk yield (MY), $T_2=1.0kg$ DM CH/hd/d in 1:3 CS to MY, $T_3=1.7kg$ DM CH/hd/d in 1:4 CS to MY, respectively. The results were found that milk yield were similar among treatments while protein, lactose and solids-not-fat percentages were highest (p<0.05) in cows receiving CH at 1.0 kgjhd/d. Most significant improvement from CH supplementation was the ability to reduce concentrate use by 42% which could provide a higher income for small-holder dairy farmers. In addition, milk thiocyanate was enhanced from 5.3 to 17.8 ppm (p<0.05) in the control and in the CH supplemented group (1.7 kg/hd/d), respectively. Moreover, CH supplementation could significantly reduce concentrate level for diary feeding thus resulted in more economical return. Cassava hay demonstrated as a potential and high-quality on-farm feed resource especially for dry season feeding in the tropics.