The project investigated two strategies to address the issue of the quality and quantity of available feed during the dry season in Sultra. The first strategy was to utilise cocoa-pods, a by-product of cocoa production, as a feed resource for cattle, thereby addressing feed gaps while removing cocoa-pods from the field and eliminating a potential reservoir for the cocoa-pod borer (an insect pest which reduces subsequent cocoa yield and quality). The second strategy was to establish forage legumes on fallow rice paddy fields and to introduce the feeding of tree legumes to cattle in Sultra. The project also developed a long-term growth path for male and female Bali cattle (Bos sondaicus) fed tree legume diets.
Cocoa-pods were successfully fed to Bali cattle at two different stages of maturity. Treatment of cocoa-pods with the fungus Aspergillus niger increased the crude protein content and decreased the neutral detergent fibre content of cocoa-pods. This treatment resulted in a slightly greater liveweight gain response compared with untreated cocoa-pods when fed to growing Bali cattle but had no influence on animal response when fed to more mature animals.
Processing of cocoa-pods is required for the long-term storage of materials to fill feed gaps, however this needs to be cheap and simple to use for adoption by smallholder farmers. Simple, low-cost processing methods were successfully established in villages in Sultra. It is recommended that chopped or ground, dried untreated cocoa-pods be fed to mature Bali cows, but not growing animals, as a component of a diet to maintain liveweight and body condition score but not as the sole component of the diet.
The successful establishment of forage legumes on fallow rice fields would provide high-quality feed materials during the dry season or provide an opportunity to conserve forages for feeding during the subsequent wet season, when all available land is allocated to field and plantation crops. Small plots of Lablab purpureus, Clitoria ternatea, Centrosema pascuorum and Macroptilium bracteatum were successfully established in villages. However, excessive rainfall during the 2008 dry season resulted in poor establishment of forage legumes on fallow rice paddy fields, except for one area of Clitoria ternatea which was more elevated and better drained.
The approach of tethered grazing of forage legumes on fallow rice fields should provide benefits in terms of supply of high-quality feed for growing and fattening animals and an organic nutrient source directly to the rice field, and warrants further investigation. Gliricidia sepium (gliricidia) is widely available in Sultra but is rarely used by smallholders. Studies within this project demonstrated to smallholders that Bali cattle would consume gliricidia and that feeding it either as a supplement or as the sole component of the diet will result in greater liveweight gains than if cattle were fed native grass. The successful establishment of Sesbania grandiflora (sesbania) on rice field bunds and dry-land areas in the current project provides an additional opportunity for feeding tree legumes and also makes use of previously unused land resources.
Growth paths were determined for male and female Bali cattle fed sesbania from 6 to 27 months of age. There were no differences in growth rates of male and female Bali cattle from 6 to 12 months of age. Growth of female cattle was significantly reduced after puberty compared to growth prior to puberty, and to growth of entire males after puberty. Growth of castrates was intermediate between entire males and females, from 18 to 27 months of age.