Comparative evaluation of effect of legume type on feed intake among dairy cows fed maize (Zea mays) stover treated with groundnut (Arachis hypogea) and soybean (Glycine max) stover
1 Southern University, School of Agricultural Sciences and Wild Life Management, Department of Animal Science, P. O Box 60293, Livingstone, Zambia.
2 Chinhoyi University of Technology, School of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Department of Animal Production and Technology, 78 Magamba Way (Off Harare - Chirundu Highway) Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe.
3 Mulungushi University, School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, P. O Box 80415, Kabwe, Zambia.
Research Article
GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2022, 18(01), 027-035.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gscbps.2022.18.1.0200
Publication history:
Received on 23 June 2020; revised on 02 January 2022; accepted on 04 January 2022
Abstract:
This study evaluated the use of maize, groundnut and soybean stover in cattle feeding. The study assessed the value of upgrading the quality of crop residues. The study involved evaluation of palatability of maize stover improved using urea (U), chopped groundnut stover (cGS), chopped soybean stover (cSS), mineralized groundnut stover solution (mGS) and mineralized soybean stover solution (mSS). In the feeding trial, twelve (12) crossbred dairy cows in their second parity were used as experimental units. A 22 factorial experiment within a Completely Randomised Design (CRD) was used. Maize stover was chopped before being mixed with urea, chopped legume stover and mineralized legume stover solutions. The effect of supplementation using maize stover upgraded with U, cGS, cSS, mGS and mSS was studied for supplement intake levels. Urea Ensilage Treatment (UET) was used as the novel therapy in the study. Both legume type and processing method had influence on supplement intake of maize stover. Groundnut stover had significantly (p˂0.05) higher (0.99kg/day, se=0.04) effect on supplement intake of maize stover than soybean stover(0.83kg/day, se=0.04). The use of mineralized legume stover solution proved significant (p˂0.05) to the use of chopped legume stover in improving the intake of maize stover. Results have indicated that intake was highest (1.01kg/day, s.e=0.04) for mineralised groundnut stover solution and lowest (0.67kg/day, s.e=0.04) for Urea Ensiling Treatment.
Keywords:
Feed intake; Maize stover; Legume stover; Urea Ensilage; Mineralization; Chopping
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