The liveweight gain response of heifers to supplements of molasses or maize while grazing irrigated Leucaena leucocephala/Digitaria eriantha pastures in north-west Australia

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Contents Vol 52(7)

doi:10.1071/AN11242

Food, Fibre and Pharmaceuticals from Animals

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The liveweight gain response of heifers to supplements of molasses or maize while grazing irrigated Leucaena leucocephala/Digitaria eriantha pastures in north-west Australia

S. R. Petty ^A and D. P. Poppi ^B ^C

^A PO Box 777, Northern Development Company, Kununurra, WA 6743, Australia.
^B Schools of Agriculture and Food Science and Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia.
^C Corresponding author. Email: d.poppi@uq.edu.au

Animal Production Science 52(7) 619-623 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AN11242
Submitted: 19 October 2011 Accepted: 6 February 2012 Published: 5 April 2012





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Abstract

This experiment in the Ord River Irrigation area (ORIA) of north Western Australia evaluated the liveweight gain of cattle rotationally grazing leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala cv. Cunningham)/pangola (Digitaria eriantha cv. Steudel) pastures alone, or supplemented with four levels of molasses (1.25, 2.50, 3.75, 5.00 kg molasses/head.day, as fed or fresh weight basis) or two levels of cracked maize supplementation (0.75, 1.50 kg/head.day, as fed or fresh weight basis). Seventy Bos indicus cross heifers [~12 months of age, mean initial weight 252 ± 3.8 (s.e.) kg] were allocated to the seven treatments and two replicates of each treatment (five cattle per replicate plus five additional similar heifers) with the stocking rate set at 6.25 head/ha. The experiment was conducted over 106 days of the dry season (August–November). Each replicate paddock of 0.4 ha was rotationally grazed with 10 animals with a 7-day grazing period and a 21-day regrowth period for each rotation.

The mean herbage mass, residual herbage mass and herbage allowance for the experiment were 3.78 t DM/ha, 3.07 t DM/ha and 7.32 kg DM/100 kg liveweight, respectively. Pangola contributed a mean of 0.79 of the herbage mass. There was a significant quadratic response of liveweight gain to level of molasses supplement (P < 0.0087) with an optimum liveweight gain of 1.08 kg/head.day at a supplement level of 2.65 kg molasses/head.day or 8.9 g/kg LW.day derived from the quadratic equation. The quadratic equation was: Liveweight gain = 0.763(±0.0644) + 0.241(±0.0658) * M – 0.046(±0.0126) * M² (where M is level of molasses supplement kg/head.day). There was no significant response to level of maize supplement. There were no significant differences between treatments in the concentration of rumen ammonia N or volatile fatty acids or in the molar proportion of volatile fatty acids. It was concluded that molasses can be used effectively to increase the liveweight gain of cattle grazing leucaena/pangola pasture at a level of ~8.9 g/kg LW.day.

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