Browsing by Author "Habte, Abebaye"

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    Assessment of Feed Resources, Feeding Systems, Conservation Practices of Maize Stover in West Shewa Zone and Evaluation of Green Maize Stover Silage for Feeding Lactating Jersey Cows
    (2020-06) Habte, Abebaye; Dr. Ashenafi Mengistu, Prof. Berhan Tamir; Dr. Getnet Assefa, Dr. Fekede Feyissa
    The survey part of the study was aimed to assess the feed resources available, feeding systems and conservation practices of maize stover in three selected districts of West Shewa Zone, Oromia Regional State. A total of 357 farmers were randomly selected for interview. Primary data were collected from smallholder farmers in a single visit interview by semi-structured questionnaire. The data collected through interview were also supported by observations. The silage experiment was conducted at Holetta Agricultural Research Center to determine the optimum ensiling duration and type of additive to make quality silage from GMS. The treatments were combinations of four additives (without additive, 1% EM (Effective micro-organism), 1% FJLB (Fermentative Juice of Lactic acid Bacteria) and 3% molasses) on fresh weight basis of green maize stover and three ensiling periods (4, 6 and 8 weeks). Treatments were arranged by a 4*3 factorial setup using a completely Randomized Design with five replications. The Physico- chemical characteristics of the silages were analyzed. The feeding experiment was conducted at Ada-berga dairy farm to evaluate the feed intake, digestibility, and milk yield and milk composition of Jersey cows fed GMSS based TMR graded with concentrate (%):30, 40 and 50, and conventional feeding( control diet) where cows received GMSS adlibitum and formulated concentrate of 0.5 kg/liter of milk separately. A total of eight lactating Jersey cows of more or less similar milk yield (8-10kg/day) with the same stage of lactation (mid-lactation) and parity range of one through four were used for the experiment. A Double 4*4 Latin Square Design was used for handling the xix `experiment. The concentrate was formulated from wheat bran, noug cake and salt of 69%, 30% and 1%, respectively. Supplementation of this concentrate at the rate of 0.5 kg/liter of milk was assumed to meet the protein and ME requirement of lactating cows with milk yield of 8-10 liters/day with a butter fat content of 4.4% fed grass hay. The experiment was conducted for a total of 96 days which consisted of 4 periods. Each period had 24 days (14 days of adaptation and 10 days of data collection). Results of the survey identified 5 major feed resources in the study areas, of which natural pasture and crop residues were used by almost all the surveyed farmers. The estimated feed resource available satisfies only 81% of the DM and 69.7% of the protein maintenance requirement of the livestock population. Free grazing was the major (96.3%) feeding system in the study areas. Conservation of the green maize stover after the green cob has been removed in the form of silage was uncommon due to lack of awareness. The laboratory result depicted that GMS silage made with the inclusion of 3% molasses at six weeks ensiling period had lower NDF, ADF and ADL contents, but resulted in relatively high in-vitro organic matter digestibility (54.47%), metabolizable energy (8.72MJ/kg DM), and crude protein content (5.9%). The measured physical characteristics of GMS ensiled using 3% molasses for six weeks were within the recommended range of quality silage. In the feeding experiment the total daily dry matter, OM, CP and ME (MJ/kg) intake of (T4) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than (T2) and (T1). Similarly, (T3) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than (T1) in terms of total daily dry matter, OM, CP and ME (MJ/kg) intakes. The milk yield of cows fed TMR with concentrate inclusion rate of 40(9.29lt) and 50% (9.65lt) showed significant (P < 0.05) differences as compared to 30 %( 8.09lt) concentrate inclusion and conventional feeding (7.90lt) system. The milk yield of T2 was higher by 2.4% than T1. The partial economic analysis made by using the cost of feeds and milk price per liter suggested that cows fed TMR with 40% concentrate would be more profitable. Thus, it could be concluded that the use of GMS silage based TMR with 40% concentrate seemed more economical to sustain milk production.