Chemical composition and ruminal dry matter and organic matter degradability of oil palm fronds

• Main Authors: Jarunee Aim-oeb(Kasetsart University, Bangkok (Thailand). Faculty of Agriculture. Department of Animal Science) E-mail:Jar_aim@hotmail.com, Angkana Harnbunchong(Kasetsart University, Bangkok (Thailand). Faculty of Agriculture. Department of Animal Science), Ong-arge Insung(Rajamangala University of Technology Srivijaya. Nakhon Si Thammarat Campus, Nakhon Si Thammarat (Thailand). Faculty of Agriculture. Department of Animal Science), Arunee Engkagul(Kasetsart University, Bangkok (Thailand). Faculty of Science. Department of Biochemistry)
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: Thai
• Published: Bangkok (Thailand) 2008
• Subjects: biomass; Chemical composition; Digestion; dry matter; Elaeis guineensis; Fermentation; Molasses; oil palm; Organic matter; Roughage; Rumen; Ruminants

Research was conducted to assess the chemical composition and ruminal degradability of the dry matter and organic matter of oil palm fronds (OPF). Two experiments were carried out. The first experiment coped with ensiling the OPF with different methods. The samples of ensiled products were used for chemical analyses using the 2*3 factorial experiment in a completely randomized design. The ruminal degradation study was done in the second trial using the samples obtained from the previous experiment. The nylon bag technique was used to evaluate rumen degradation parameters. The experiment was carried out according to the 2*3 factorial experiment in randomized complete block design. Ensiling of the OPF using leave blade provided the difference (P LT 0.01) of crude protein, crude fiber, ether extract, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, ash and the pH of ensilage whereas the NFE and ADL are significantly different (P LT 0.05) with the ensilage product using total frond. Ensilage methods influences the CF, EE, NDF, ADF and NFE content and the pH value (P LT 0.01) as well as the CP and the ADL content (P LT 0.05) of ensilage. However, both the ensilage methods and the part of the OPF which is used for ensiling had no influence on the ruminal dry matter degradability (P GT 0.05) but their influences were found on the ruminal organic matter degradability (P LT 0.05). This research result implies that the OPF had shown it potential as source of the biomass which can be used as ruminant feed resources.