• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.1090-1097
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• 2001

Nine tons of fresh rice straw from early-maturing varieties was ensiled with 50 g urea $kg^{-1}$ DM straw in plastic bags immediately after threshing. Five months after storage, preserved straw was used to partially replace elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum, Schumach) for lactating cows. Eight crossbred Holstein lactating cows (75% of Holstein blood) in their second to fourth lactation and in mid-lactation were arranged in a balanced design with two squares consisting of $4\;periods{\times}4\;treatments$ (100% grass ad lib. as a control; 75% grass+urea treated fresh rice straw (UTrFRS) ad lib.; 50% grass+UTrFRS ad lib.; 25% grass+UTrFRS ad libitum) in one square. A concentrate supplement was given at a rate of 400 g per day per kg of milk produced. Samples of fresh straw taken in the field and UTrFRS and elephant grass taken at feeding time were evaluated in a degradation trial with 3 fistulated heifers (undefined blood ratio of crossbred of Sindhi and local yellow cattle). Straw preserved for 5-9 months was in nearly all cases of good quality. Crude protein (CP) content was increased 2.1 fold and 48 h dry matter loss (DML) was 20% higher compared to dry straw. Elephant grass cultivated intensively was low in DM content and 10% higher in 48 h DML compared to UTrFRS. Dry matter intake (DMI) was higher for the mixture of UtrFRS and Elephant grass, and highest when one-third of the roughage was UTrFRS. Higher DMI of mixed roughage diets was probably due to the low DM content of elephant grass in the sole grass roughage diet. Increasing substitution of elephant grass with UTrFRS up to 75% of the roughage component increased milk fat content and had no effect on milk yield and other milk composition parameters. Feeding UTrFRS, partially replacing elephant grass in the diets of lactating cows in the dry season can reduce the cost of roughage.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1373-1380
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• 2019

Objective: This study ascertained effects of cactus pear in association with different roughage in the diet of F1 Holstein/Zebu cows on intake, nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance, ingestive behavior and performance. Methods: Eight cows with $72{\pm}11$ days of lactation were used. The experimental design was simultaneous in two $4{\times}4$ Latin squares. Four experimental diets were used: Diet 1, sorghum silage as exclusive roughage; Diet 2, sorghum silage associated with cactus pear in a proportion of 50% of the roughage (dry matter basis); Diet 3, elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum cv. Roxo) as exclusive roughage; Diet 4, elephant grass associated with cactus pear in a proportion of 50% of the roughage. The roughage:concentrate ratio was 75:25. Results: Dry matter intake (p = 0.01) was higher with sorghum silage. There were differences in dry matter intake (p = 0.01), crude protein (p<0.01), ether extract (p = 0.01), non-fibrous carbohydrates (p<0.01) and total digestible nutrients (p = 0.01) among the diets. Cactus pear in the diet reduced water intake by 44.52% (p<0.01). The nitrogen balance was 59.71% and 27.49% lower in animals treated with exclusive sorghum silage and sorghum silage associated with cactus pear in relation to diets with elephant grass and elephant grass associated with cactus pear, respectively (p<0.01). The diets did not influence the milk production (p = 0.70), 3.5% fat corrected milk production (p = 0.72) or feed efficiency (p = 0.61). Conclusion: The association of cactus pear with sorghum or elephant grass silage does not alter milk production, reduces the intake of dry matter and water and improves the digestibility of nutrients.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.996-1006
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• 2019

Objective: This study aimed to gain deeper insights into the dynamic changes in spoilage fungi populations during fermentation and the influence of traditional additives on silage quality. Methods: Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) was prepared without any additive (control), and with the addition of 0.5% salt, and 0.5% salt-0.2% sugar mixture. The fungal community was then determined using a classic culturing method and high-throughput sequencing at 0, 5, 15, and 60 days after ensiling. Results: The results showed that the fungal community of elephant grass silage varied significantly between the natural fermentation without any additive and the two additive groups. The diversity and relative abundance of spoilage molds in the control group were much higher than those in the two treatment groups (p<0.05). Three species of yeasts (Candida sp., Pichia sp., Trichosporon sp.) and four spoilage molds (Fusarium sp., Aspergillus sp., Muco sp. and Penicillin sp.) were the predominant fungi in elephant grass during natural fermentation from 0 to 60 days, which were found to be significantly decreased in salt and sugar additive groups (p<0.05). Meanwhile, the diversity and relative abundance of undesirable molds in the 0.5%-salt additive group were the lowest among all groups. Conclusion: Adding salt and sugar, particularly 0.5% salt, is a promising effective approach to reduce the amount of undesirable fungi thus, improving the silage quality of elephant grass in northern Vietnam.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.942-946
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• 2004

This study aimed to examine the fermentation quality of a tropical Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpuereum) and temperate Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) forages ensiled additive of fermented juice of epiphytic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and to determine what factor affects the fermentation characteristics of the crops. In both species cell walls neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents in silages were consistently decreased (p<0.05) with the addition of FJLB at ensiling more then Control treatment. The FJLB additive increased number of LAB (cfu) and lactate concentration in the silages in both species. The Control treatment without additive underwent a clostridial type of fermentation with traces of propionic, iso-butyric, n-butyric acids contents with higher (p<0.01) levels of volatile basic nitrogen (VBN %TN) and had appreciable decreased of nutrient in silages. FJLB treatment improved silage nutritive value with little contents of VBN %TN, ethanol and very small amount of dry matter (DM) and hemicellulose losses (p<0.05) between 2 to 5% and 7 to 3% respectively, in Elephant grass and Italian ryegrass species. The results in this study indicates that while among the factors affecting silage fermentation butyric type of fermentation was more pronounced in tropical elephant grass compared to the temperate Italian ryegrass, FJLB additive revealed a better silage fermentation products in both species.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.132-142
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• 2018

An elephant digests only around 30~45% of what it consumes; therefore the undigested material mainly passes as intact fibres. Elephant food is usually composed of grass, leaves, twigs, bark, fruit and seed pods. This research aimed to utilize the elephant dung fibers as material for composite board and citric acid as a bonding agent. Citric acid contents in this research were set at 0 wt% (binderless composite board), 10 wt%, 20 wt%, and 30 wt% based on dry weight particles, while the target density was set at $0.8g/cm^3$. Pressing temperatures were set at $180^{\circ}C$ and $200^{\circ}C$ with the pressing time was 10 minutes. Physical and mechanical properties tests were then performed according to Japanese Industrial Standard A 5905. The result showed that elephant dung fibers could be used as potential materials for composite board. Addition of citric acid and pressing temperature significantly increased the quality of composite board. Infrared analysis indicated that the presence of ester linkages much higher with the increasing of citric acid content and pressing temperature. The optimum properties of composite board made from elephant dung fibers could be achieved at pressing temperature of $200^{\circ}C$ and a citric acid content of 20 wt%.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.543-548
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• 2002

Fresh elephant grass was replaced by urea treated rice straw (UTRS) to evaluate the effects on milk production of crossed lactating cows. A total of 16 crossbred F1 cows (Holstein Friesian ${\times}$ Vietnamese Local Yellow), with a body weight of about 400 kg and lactation number from three to five, were used in the experiment. The experimental cows were blocked according to the milk yield of the previous eight weeks and divided into 4 homogenous groups. The experiment was conducted with a Latin Square design with 4 treatments and 4 periods. Each period was 4 weeks, with 2 weeks of feed adaptation and 2 weeks for data collection. The ratio of concentrate to roughage in the ration was 50:50. All cows were given constant amounts of elephant grass dry matter (DM), with ratios of 100% grass without UTRS (control treatment 100G), and 75% grass (75G), 50% grass (50G) and 25% grass (25G) with ad libitum UTRS. Daily total DM intake on 100G, 75G, 50G and 25G was 12.04, 12.31, 12.32 and 11.85 kg, and the daily ME intake was 121.6, 121.5, 119.4 and 114.3 MJ, respectively. The daily CP intake was similar for all treatments (1.85-1.91 kg). There was a difference (p<0.05) in daily milk yield between the 25G and the 100G and 75G (11.7 vs. 12.6 and 12.5 kg, respectively). Milk protein concentration was similar for all treatments, while a tendency to increased milk fat concentration following the increase of UTRS ratio was observed. The cows gained 4-5 kg body weight per month and showed first oestrus 3-4 months after calving. The overall feed conversion for milk production was not affected by ratio of UTRS in the ration. It is concluded that replacement of green grass by UTRS with a ratio of 50:50 for crossbred lactating cows is as good as feeding 100% green grass in terms of milk yield, body weight gain and feed conversion. UTRS can preferably replace green grass in daily rations for crossbred dairy cows in winter to cope with the shortage of green grass, with the ratio 1:1.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1736-1744
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• 2008

Two experiments were conducted in central Vietnam to test the hypothesis that supplementation with a concentrate, comprising rice bran (45% fresh basis), maize (49%), fish meal (3%), urea (2%) and salt (1%), up to 2% of live weight (LW)/d (dry matter (DM) basis) would linearly increase digestible organic matter intake and LW gain of yellow cattle. In both experiments, there were five treatments, namely a basal diet of fresh grass fed at 1.25% of LW (experiment 1, elephant grass, Pennisetum purpureum; experiment 2, native grass) and rice straw (Oryza sativa) fed ad libitum or this diet supplemented with concentrate at about 0.3, 0.7, 1.3 or 2.0% LW. There were 4 male growing cattle per treatment in experiment 1 and 3 in experiment 2. Diets were fed for 44 (experiment 1) or 49 (experiment 2) days, with feed intake recorded daily, LW measured about weekly and digestibility measurements made over 7 days commencing on day 24 (experiment 1) or day 10 (experiment 2). The elephant grass and native grass had neutral detergent fibre (NDF) concentrations of 82 and 73% DM, and nitrogen concentrations of 1.3 and 1.8% DM, respectively. The rice straw used had a NDF concentration of 79-84% DM and nitrogen concentration of 0.8% DM. The concentrate had NDF and nitrogen concentrations of 33 and 2.8% DM. In both experiments, DM intake increased (p<0.001) linearly as the amount of concentrate consumed increased. Rice straw intake declined (p<0.001) (experiment 1: 1.24 to 0.48 kg DM/d; experiment 2: 0.95 to 0.50 kg DM/d) as concentrate intake increased. Grass intake was not significantly affected by concentrate intake in either experiment. The lowest amount of concentrate supplement increased forage intake, after which substitution rate increased as the amount of concentrate consumed increased. However, substitution rates at the highest amount of concentrate consumed were modest at 0.3 to 0.5 kg DM reduction in forage intake/kg DM supplement consumed. In both experiments, digestible organic matter intake increased linearly (p<0.001) (experiment 1: 1.16 to 2.38 kg/d; experiment 2: 1.30 to 2.49 kg/d) as the amount of supplement consumed increased, as did LW gain (experiment 1: 0.15 to 0.81 kg/d; experiment 2: 0.15 to 0.77 kg/d). This was associated with significant (p<0.01) linear increases in organic matter intake and apparent organic matter digestibility. Neutral detergent fibre digestibility declined as concentrate intake increased, but the effect was not significant (p = 0.051) in experiment 2. These results are discussed in relation to existing literature and potential to improve the profitability of cattle fattening in central Vietnam.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.1054-1060
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• 2017

Objective: This study was aimed at evaluating effects of cattle breed resources and alternative mixed-feeding practices on meat productivity and emission intensities from household farming systems (HFS) in Daklak Province, Vietnam. Methods: Records from Local $Yellow{\time}Red$ Sindhi (Bos indicus; Lai Sind) and 1/2 Limousin, 1/2 Drought Master, and 1/2 Red Angus cattle during the growth (0 to 21 months) and fattening (22 to 25 months) periods were used to better understand variations on meat productivity and enteric methane emissions. Parameters were determined by the ruminant model. Four scenarios were developed: (HFS1) grazing from birth to slaughter on native grasses for approximately 10 h plus 1.5 kg dry matter/d (0.8% live weight [LW]) of a mixture of guinea grass (19%), cassava (43%) powder, cotton (23%) seed, and rice (15%) straw; (HFS2) growth period fed with elephant grass (1% of LW) plus supplementation (1.5% of LW) of rice bran (36%), maize (33%), and cassava (31%) meals; and HFS3 and HFS4 computed elephant grass, but concentrate supplementation reaching 2% and 1% of LW, respectively. Results: Results show that compared to HFS1, emissions ($72.3{\pm}0.96kg\;CH_4/animal/life$; least squares $means{\pm}standard$ error of the mean) were 15%, 6%, and 23% lower (p<0.01) for the HFS2, HFS3, and HFS4, respectively. The predicted methane efficiencies ($CO_2eq$) per kg of LW at slaughter ($4.3{\pm}0.15$), carcass weight ($8.8{\pm}0.25kg$) and kg of edible protein ($44.1{\pm}1.29$) were also lower (p<0.05) in the HFS4. In particular, irrespective of the HSF, feed supply and ratio changes had a more positive impact on emission intensities when crossbred 1/2 Red Angus cattle were fed than in their crossbred counterparts. Conclusion: Modest improvements on feeding practices and integrated modelling frameworks may offer potential trade-offs to respond to climate change in Vietnam.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1143-1150
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• 2008

An experiment was conducted in Vietnam to test the hypothesis that supplementation with cassava powder up to 2% of live weight (LW)/d (DM basis) would linearly increase digestible organic matter intake and LW gain of Laisind cattle. There were five treatments: a basal diet of elephant grass fed at 1.25% of LW and rice straw fed ad libitum or this diet supplemented with cassava powder, containing 2% urea, at about 0.3, 0.7, 1.3 or 2.0% LW. The cattle fed cassava powder at about 2.0% LW did not consume all of the supplement, with actual intake similar to the 1.3% LW treatment. Organic matter, digestible organic matter and digestible energy intakes increased (p<0.001) curvilinearly with increased consumption of cassava powder. Rice straw intake declined curvilinearly with increasing intake of cassava powder (p<0.001), and there was a small linear decline (p = 0.01) in grass intake. The substitution rate of cassava powder for forage was between 0.5 and 0.7 kg DM reduction in forage intake per kg DM supplement consumed, with no difference between treatments. Apparent digestibility of organic matter increased (p<0.001) in a curvilinear manner, while digestibility of neutral detergent fibre declined (p<0.001) in a curvilinear manner with increased consumption of cassava powder. Live weight gain increased (p<0.01) linearly with increased consumption of supplement. It was concluded that the amount of cassava powder fed should be limited to between 0.7 and 1.0% LW.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1580-1587
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• 2006

Several researchers have demonstrated that the rumen microbial community rapidly adapts to saponins and proposed interval feeding to prevent this rapid adaptation. An in vivo experiment was carried out to examine the effect of daily versus application every third day (interval feeding) of Sapindus rarak saponins (SE) on rumen fermentation end products, protozoal counts and nutrient digestibility. Thirty sheep were allocated into 5 groups. Sheep were fed daily or every third day with two levels of SE (0.48 and 0.72 g/kg body mass). One group received no saponin and served as control. All sheep received the same diet, a mixture of elephant grass and wheat pollard (65:35 w/w). Independent of the feeding regime and the level of inclusion, the addition of SE decreased protozoal counts and rumen ammonia concentrations (p<0.01). Microbial N supply and N retention were not affected by the high feeding regime. Daily feeding negatively influenced rumen xylanase and cellulase activity, but only when the high level of saponins was fed. However, these negative effects on rumen cell wall degradation were not reflected in decreasing total tract digestibility of the organic matter or the plant cell walls. Our results show that rumen microorganisms do not rapidly adapt to S. rarak saponins.