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Optimal stage of maturity for feeding napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) to dairy cows in Kenya
Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to determine the maturity at which napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum var. Bana) should be fed to dairy cows in Kenya. The grass was grown in two fields and irrigated to simulate precipitation in the high (1200 mm/yr) and medium (800 mm/yr) rainfall areas in Kenya. The height, chemical composition and yields (Experiment 1) and in vivo digestibility (Experiment 2) of the grass were determined weekly from week 3 to week 15 of growth. Optimal maturity for feeding was determined using crude protein concentration, yields of digestible organic matter and crude protein, and crude protein:digestible organic matter ratio methods. Height and yield increased and in vivo digestibility and nutrient ratio declined as the grass matured (P < 0.001). Although the height and yields of high-watered grass were 3 times those of low-watered grass, organic matter digestibility was higher on low-watered grass (P < 0.001). The optimal ages for feeding obtained using these methods were within the 6-10 weeks but the heights were different from the 60-100 cm ranges that are recommended in Kenya. Further, the recommended maturity was different and more specific for each watering regime. The nutrient-ratio method was preferred since it considered the interrelationship between protein and energy concentrations. This method indicates that napier grass should be fed to dairy cows at 55-60 cm (7-8 wk) and 130-140 cm (9-10 wk) in the medium and high rainfall areas in Kenya, respectively.
... Panicum maximum). 5,6 While the agronomic and crop husbandry measures for the commonly used Napier grass under intensified production systems are well described, 7 this is not the case for optimal harvesting stage, in view of dry matter (DM) and quality yields, for the improved forages in sub-Saharan Africa. Usually, as forage grows over time, biomass increases as quality declines; yet both quality and quantity are of importance. ...
... Usually, as forage grows over time, biomass increases as quality declines; yet both quality and quantity are of importance. 7 Optimal harvesting stage, defined by growth period, biomass yield and quality, present the most realistic argument for reaping benefits of cultivated forages. Usually, high fibers depress DM intake and further undesirably associated with low digestibility especially neutral detergent fiber (NDF). ...
BACKGROUND
Due to increasing demand for livestock products in sub‐Saharan Africa, increasing livestock productivity is a priority. The core constraint is limited availability of feed of good quality. We assessed optimal harvesting time of three improved grasses, two Urochloa lines (Basilisk a selection from wild population, Cayman – a hybrid, a product of breeding) plus Mombasa, a Megathyrsus selection. All are released in Latin America and Kenya or in the registration in other regional countries. We assessed dry matter (DM) yields and quality at 4, 6, 8 and 12 weeks of age in two sites.
RESULTS
DM yields (in t ha⁻¹) were of the order Cayman (9.6–14.3) > Mombasa (8.0–11.3) > Basilisk (5.5–10.2) in one site, and Cayman (6.4–9.7) > Basilisk (4.9–7.6) > Mombasa (3.3–5.9) at site two. The harvesting regimes produced DM largely similar for weeks 4 and 6, 6 and 8, 8 and 12. Across the sites quality was of the order Cayman > Mombasa > Basilisk for neutral detergent fiber (NDF), metabolizable energy (ME) and crude protein (CP). With increasing harvesting interval, MJ ME ha⁻¹ and kg CP ha⁻¹ were inconsistent across both sites, but significant differences returned for MJ ME ha⁻¹ unlike kg CP ha⁻¹.
CONCLUSIONS
Harvesting at either 8 or 12 weeks is not recommendable as quality drops without an increase in DM yield that can compensate despite doubling and tripling time respectively, compared to 4 weeks. We recommend harvesting at 4 through 6 weeks for any of the three grasses based on yield against time, and demand at the intensified cut‐and‐carry smallholder systems. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
... The objective of this study was to compare and explain the variations in the production and nutritive value of canarana erecta lisa grass (Echinocloa pyramidalis Lam.) at different harvest intervals. The treatments corresponded to the cut intervals of 20, 27, 34, 41, 48, 55, 62, and 69 days. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with three replications. ...
... At 35 days, canarana erecta lisa will be approximately 106 cm high, more than double its height at 20 days. In this study, as with most tropical grasses, variation in height resulted in an increase in forage production, but this increase was not linear; similar results were reported by Euclides et al. (18) , Gomide (19) and Muia et al. (20) . ...
The objective of this study was to compare and explain the variations in the production and nutritive value of canarana erecta lisa grass (Echinocloa pyramidalis Lam.) at different harvest intervals. The treatments corresponded to the cut intervals of 20, 27, 34, 41, 48, 55, 62, and 69 days. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with three replications. Each experimental unit had 6m2 (3m ×2m). The variables studied included forage production, canopy height, and nutritive value o harvested forage. Forage production varied from 11517 to 12324 kg ha-1; Plant heights from 48.8 to 234 cm; Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) from 68.8% to 71.13%; Acid detergent fiber (ADF) from 36.20% to 44.15%; Crude protein (CP) from 11.43% to 5.85% and in “in vitro” dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) from 63.30% to 47.42%. These values indicated that the nutritive value of canarana erecta lisa was reduced at longer harvest intervals. It is recommended to harvest the grass at 35 days of regrowth favoring productivity, nutritive value and forage digestibility.
... This particular crop not only exhibits drought tolerance but also demonstrates soil-fixing capabilities and high productivity, rendering it suitable for large-scale cultivation. This characteristic may elucidate the substantial volume of related studies conducted in these regions (Mula et al., 1999;Mwendia et al., 2017). ...
Pennisetum, a herbaceous plant belonging to the Poaceae family, is prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions and encompasses ~140 species. Its versatility is evidenced by its applications in forage, paper weaving, soil erosion control, and energy production. Current research on Pennisetum spans diverse fields including hay production, molecular breeding, and heavy metal absorption. However, this body of research is marked by redundancy, with a lack of clear focus. This article employs bibliometric methods to analyze the key research areas topics from 1970 to 2023. It also further discusses the future research direction of Pennisetum. Over the past five decades, research on Pennisetum has seen a significant increase, primarily concentrating on cultivation and breeding, ecological restoration, and industrial applications. These domains have become pivotal in advancing Pennisetum-related research. The paper also forecasts future innovations in Pennisetum research, focusing on molecular breeding, agricultural management, and novel material development. As a seminal contribution, this study offers a comprehensive graphical overview of Pennisetum research, establishing a foundational resource for ongoing scientific discourse.
... In agreement with Tessema (2008), there was no significant effect on the PH of napier grass due to planting density in the first year but there was in the second year. The PH range obtained in the first and second years of the present study lies between the reported heights (100 cm to 150 cm) of napier grass (Muia et al., 1999;Fekede et al., 2005;Kariuki et al., 2016). ...
Introduction
Maralfalfa grass ( Pennisetum spp.) is known for its high dry matter productivity and nutritive value. However, information on agronomic management practices to improve yield and nutritive value in Ethiopia is sparse.
Materials and method
The experiment consisted of 7 plant densities (33,333 [75 cm × 40 cm]; 26,667[75 cm × 50 cm]; 25,000 [100 cm × 40 cm]; 22,222 [75 cm × 60 cm]; 20,000 [100 cm × 50 cm]; 16,667 [100 cm × 60 cm]; and 13,333 [125 cm × 60 cm] plants per hectare, and arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications.
Results
The results indicated that the year had a significant (P<0.001) effect on measured traits. Plant densities had no significant (P>0.05) effect on the number of nodes and leaves per plant, leaf length, and basal diameters. The number of tillers per plant varied significantly among plant densities only in the first year at the 1st harvest. Plant height in the first year was significantly (P<0.01) greater than in the second year.
Discussion
Annual dry matter production and annual crude protein production of Maralfalfa grass were not significantly affected by plant density. Nutritive value parameters (CP, Ash, NDF, ADF, ADL, and IVDMD) were not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced by plant density. Using a lower plant density could reduce the amount of planting material, transport, and labor costs.
Conclusion
However, further studies on Maralfalfa grass should be conducted in multi-locations of Ethiopia both under rain-fed and irrigated conditions with various agronomic practices.
... The CP content of NG used in the present study (7.9%) was low, but comparable to 7.6% CP of the NG used by smallholder farmers in the tropics (Wouters 1987). Even so, this is less than the minimum dietary CP requirement for milk production from dairy cows (Muia et al. 1999), even when allowing for the limited selectivity displayed, which might have increased the CP content of the basal diet consumed to as high as 9%. The SPVS had a CP content of 17.1%, making this a suitable supplement for feeding lactating cows. ...
Context
Dairy production in East Africa is dominated by smallholder production systems, but is dogged by suboptimal milk production mediated by poor nutrition. Grain-based concentrates can be used to make the energy and protein deficits in rain-fed systems, but this strategy faces several hurdles. For livestock production systems to be sustainable, it is important that less human-edible food is fed to animals and sweet potato can serve both as a source of human food (tuber) and animal feed (vines). Smallholder scale-appropriate technology has been used to allow feed preservation of the perishable sweet potato vines for use throughout the year.
Aims
We assessed the efficacy of sweet potato vine silage plus wheat bran (SPVSWB) as a supplement to maintain milk production at a lower cost than that of grain-based commercial dairy concentrate (CDC).
Methods
Multiparous Holstein–Friesian cattle (n = 12) were given a basal diet of Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum cv. South Africa), ad libitum, plus a fixed amount of either SPVSWB or CDC, (designed to be both iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric) during late (LL) and early (EL) lactations.
Key results
Daily milk yield was lower for SPVSWB than for CDC groups, although comparable (not significant), in both LL (6.2 vs 7.5 L/day) and EL (14.2 vs 16.0 L/day); however, the lower cost of production for SPVSWB (23.2 vs 48.7 KES/kg DM) ensured that margins on milk income over feed (per cow per day) were greater for SPVSWB in both periods. (LL: 71 vs 14.5; and EL: 426 vs 400 KES/day). The lower intake for SPVSWB than for CDC is most probably due to high neutral detergent fibre content in the supplement and the lower milk production, owing to either, or both, of lower energy and protein intake.
Conclusions
It is suggested that some reformulation of SPVS, replacing in part or in whole the Napier grass with rejected sweet potato tubers, will decrease the neutral detergent fibre content, increase the metabolisable energy content, reducing the need for additional wheat bran and may, thereby, enhance the production response to equate with that of CDC.
Implications
It is clear that, despite SPVSWB eliciting lower milk production (LL 6.2 and EL14.2 L/day) than does CDC (LL 7.5 and EL 16.0 L/day), SPVSWB is a cost-effective, accessible alternative to grain-based supplementation in small-holder dairy-farming systems of Kenya.
The urgency to address the adverse impacts of climate change on livelihoods and ecosystems has seen an increase in global driven initiatives. However, shifting vulnerabilities associated with land use resource based adaptation and maladaptive feedback loops they create have been given low attention. Policy discourses that frame adaptation as a local responsibility and bias towards reducing industrial Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the expense of Agricultural emissions across scale are thought to account for the undesirable situation. This calls for a reflective policy framework and climate policy innovation. We provide counter arguments using Drivers, Pressure, State, Impact, Response (DPSIR) model and telecoupling principles to suggest use of resilience as an integrative lens in visualising the proposal. Using a case study on resource constrained smallholder dairy production systems, western Kenya, we analyse the critical issues in the context of decision making and environmental externalities. The effect of price risks on dairy cattle feeding strategies and ultimately carbon footprints and ecoefficiencies were examined through methane simulation and gross margin analysis (GM). The lowest ecoefficiency was associated with exclusively local coping strategies i.e. Maize Stover (Ms), while the highest ecoefficiency was observed in feeding strategies that utilise external resources and/or legume fodders. We conclude that management of externalities need to capture institutional, economic processes and incentive systems, as well as organizational and policy coherence to shape the interests and behaviour of individual land user. In particular, policy innovation should focus on price and market risks as critical factors that mediate actor decision making at implementation level as they impact GHG emissions which transcend individual decision boundaries.
In order to determine grazing characteristics in the dwarf napiergrass pasture under the rotational grazing system, 5 a of pasture established by rooted tillers of dwarf variety of late-heading type (DL) was grazed by 3 head of breeding beef cows in the following 2 years after establishment in 2001 and 2002. Rotational grazing was conducted at 4 and 5 times for about 1-week grazing with 3-weeks and 1-month rest period in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Tiller number increased seasonally from the first through to the fourth or fifth grazing, and herbage dry matter weight reached the peak at the fourth grazing both years, while some characters such as plant height, mean tiller dry matter weight and percentage leaf blade tended to decrease with the grazing. The relationships between pre-grazing tiller number and the increasing rate of tiller number at the following grazing in each row of plots were negatively correlated among 4-5 grazings both years. From the stratified clip method, pre-grazing percentage leaf blades were 100% in the first and second strata counted from the top of canopy and those in the third strata were nearly 95% and 80% in 2001 and 2002, respectively both years. Pre-grazing leaf blades in the top two and in the third strata were consumed perfectly and almost perfectly, respectively both years. Herbage consumption increased with the grazing up to the third and fourth grazing and dropped at the last grazing due to the poor regrowth under the decreasing air temperature both years. Dry matter intake per head averaged 4.3-10.8 kg DM/head/day in 2001 and 6.7-11.4kg DM/head/day (15.5-28.6 g DM/kg LW/day) in 2002. Grazing time on DL napiergrass was stable at 50-60% in daytime at the first grazing day both years, while that at the last grazing daytended to increase with the grazing both years. Thus, liveweights of 3 head of beef cows were maintained in the grazing from the second to the fourth time without concentrate feeding in 2002, when dry matter intake was above 20g DM/kg LW/day.
Grazing suitability of 3 napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) varieties (normal variety of Wruk wona (Wr) and dwarf varieties of early-heading type (DE) and late-heading type (DL)) was evaluated, using a mixed cultivation on a bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Fliugge cv. Pensacola) pasture. During 2 grazing seasons (June-November) starting in the next year of establishment, the plants were grazed 4-5 times by a herd of 15-16 dairy cows and 2-3 beef cows. The percentage overwintered plants and regrown tiller number were highest for DL in May 2001 and 2002. Although plant height, herbage dry matter weight and mean tiller dry matter weight were highest in Wr throughout the experiment, tiller number and leaf area index were larger in DL than in DE and Wr, and percentage leaf blade and ratio of leaf blade to stem were higher in two dwarf varieties than in Wr both years. Herbage consumption was largest in DL followed by Wr and DE, while percentage utilization of herbage was highest in DL followed by DE and Wr, and lowest in bahiagrass. In both years, grazing time on bahiagrass was highest at the first grazing, while that on DL tended to increase, followed by Wr and DE as the grazing season progressed. The highest utilization and the highest overwintering ability in DL show the highest suitability of this variety for an intensive grazing system utilizing a napiergrass pasture in the southern Kyushu.
Alternatives need to be addressed for reducing losses in elephant grass (EG; Pennisetum purpureum) silages. Furthermore, smallholders lack information on the nutritional aspects of dairy farms. The aim of this study was to evaluate total mixed ration silage (TMR) combining fresh EG and concentrate ingredients, creating the following treatments: (i) EG silage (control); (ii) EG, corn and soya bean meal; (iii) EG, corn, soya bean meal and molasses; (iv) EG, citrus pulp and soya bean meal; and (v) EG, citrus pulp, soya bean meal and molasses. Five replicates of each treatment were ensiled in 15‐L plastic jars. The fermentation profile, chemical composition, microbial counts and aerobic stability were assessed. Three contrasts were tested, as follows: (i) control vs. TMR; (ii) TMR with corn vs. TMR with citrus pulp; and (iii) TMR with molasses vs. TMR without molasses. Variables were analysed through the PROC MIXED procedure of the SAS at the 5% level. The TMR had better fermentation profile, lower effluent production and longer aerobic stability compared to control. When the effect of corn was compared to citrus pulp among the TMR, silages with citrus pulp showed lower fermentation losses, non‐protein nitrogen and effluent production. The aerobic stability also improved with citrus pulp. Molasses did not affect the fermentation profile. Overall, lactic acid was the primary acid in all TMR. Nitrogen source (e.g., soya bean meal) can be used without compromising the fermentation process. TMR with citrus pulp showed better results than corn. TMR may be an alternative to optimize the use of EG on smallholdings.
Scarce and poor-quality food resources limit smallholder dairy production in the tropics. Food resources for zerograzing may be improved by intercropping Pennisetum purpureum (napier grass) with Leucaena leucocephala leguminous hedgerows. To evaluate dairy cow performance from this alley cropping system, 36 Ayrshire/Brown Swiss × Sahiwal cows in a 2×3 factorial design were individually fed from the 3rd week of lactation for 14 weeks on diets of napier fodder harvested at 1·0 m or 1·5 m and offered ad libitum , supplemented with 0, 4 or 8 kg fresh weight leucaena fodder. Average daily milk yield during the 2nd week of lactation was a covariate in the analyses of milk yield, and post-partum live weight a covariate in the analyses of dry matter (DM) intake and live-weight change.
Napier harvesting height and leucaena level had independent effects on performance. Napier height (1·0 m or 1·5 m) significantly ( P < 0·01) affected daily napier DM intake (9·3 and 6·8 kg), total daily DM intake (10·5 and 7·9 kg), daily live-weight losses (165 and 490 g) and daily milk yield (8·6 and 6·9 kg respectively). Leucaena supplementation (0, 4 or 8 kg) significantly (P<0·01) increased total daily DM intake (7·8, 9·3 and 10·4 kg), reduced daily live-weight loss (560,235 and 175 g), and increased daily milk yield (7·3, 7·7 and 8·3 kg respectively). The results show that reasonable dairy performance can be achieved in the tropics by supplementing a napier fodder basal diet with leucaena forage, and highlight the importance of the stage of harvesting of the napier fodder. The results are discussed in relation to the nutrient requirements for milk production given by the Agricultural Research Council (1980 and 1984).