Use of sorghum stalk and leaves for beef cattle feeding

Abstract

The present paper reports a study on use of sorghum foliage (stalk and leaves) as feed for beef cattle. To make silage, sorghumfoliagewaschopped into 3 - 5 cmin lenghtby machine, mixed with additivesand then stored in jars(3k g/jar) or plastic bags(200 kg/bag)according to five treatments which were:only sorghum, sorghum and elephant grass, sorghum and 3% rice bran, sorghum with elephant grass and 3% rice bran, and sorghum with green grain. In addition, fresh sorghum stalk and leaves were used to feedLai Sind beef cattlein a feeding trial. Twenty cattle were divided randomly into 4 feeding groups to compare different levels of sorghum stalk and leaves supplementation, viz.75%, 50%, 25%, and 0% fresh matter of the basic diet. Concentrate was applied daily at 0.75 kg, 1.00 kg, and 1.25 kg/day, respectivelyfor the first, middle and last two months.Results showed that sorghum foliagecould be fermented easily with or without easily fermentable carbohydrates or other substrates. After three months of ensiling,thequality of silage remained good (pH from 3.98 to 4.27), the level of molded feed was low (3.94 - 6.37% in jarsand 1.00 - 1.30% in plastic bags). Ensilingcould also reduce toxin (4.20 - 5.60 mg HCN/kg silage). Under the experimental conditions, cattle gained 433.33 g/day, feed conversion for 1 kg of body gain waw 9.38 kg dry matter. Sorghum stalk and leaves could be used to replace up to 50% fresh matter in the basic diet without any negative impact onanimal productivity.