Biomass yield of Hymenachne acutigluna and Paspalum atratum in association with Sesbania sesban on seasonally waterlogged soils and their use as feeds for cattle in the Mekong delta, Vietnam

Nguyen Thi Hong Nhan*, Ngo Van Man** and T R Preston***

* College of Agriculture, Cantho University, Cantho, Vietnam; Email: nthnhan@ctu.edu.vn
** Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City; Email: manmy05@yahoo.com.vn
*** UTA Colombia, AA48 Socorro, Santander, Colombia; Email: trpreston@mekarn.org

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to measure: (i)  the productivity and nutritional quality of Hymenachne acutigluna  and Paspalum atratum grasses planted with and without the legume tree Sesbania sesban on waterlogged soils;  and (ii) the effect of feeding Hymenachne acutigluna to cattle as the basal diet compared with Hymenachne acutigluna or Paspalum atratum supplemented with foliage of Sesbania.

Inter-planting  Hymenachne acutigluna or Paspalum atratum with  Sesbania sesban resulted in increased yield of DM of 11% and of crude protein of 50% of the associated grass. The crude protein in the grass DM was increased from 8.36-8.79% to 11.2-12.7% by Sesbania. The combination of Sesbania foliage with either of the two grasses supported growth rates in crossbred cattle that were some 20% greater than when Hymenachne acutigluna grass was the sole diet.  Apparent digestibility coefficients of DM and crude protein were higher on the diets supplemented with Sesbania.

Key words: Crude protein, digestibility, growth, intake

Introduction

In the Mekong Delta, introduction of improved grass species is recognized as an important activity in cattle production, especially in regions where natural grass is limited due to the dry season or unfavorable soil conditions. Hymenachne acutigluna and Paspalum atratum are two species that are well-adapted to waterlogged and infertile acid soils (Hare et al 1999) and can be utilized as cut-and-carry forage by farmers. Hymenachne acutigluna and Paspalum atratum offer high biomass yields but the protein content is low (usually less than 10% in DM) (Hare et al 2001), thus supplementation with a source of protein is recommended when these grasses are fed as sole feeds to cattle. The foliage from the legume tree Sesbania sesban has been shown to be an excellent feed for goats, supporting growth rates of up 143 g/day (Nguyen The Hong Nhan 1998). However, there have been no reports in Vietnam on its potential role as a protein supplement for cattle.

The objectives of the present research were to: (i) determine the nutritive value of the inter-cropped grass and legume compared with monoculture planting; (ii) measure the productivity and persistence of Hymenachne acutigluna and Paspalum atraum grass with and without Sesbania sesban; and (iii) record the performance of cattle fed Paspalum atraum as the sole diet and when supplemented with small amounts of Sesbania seban foliage.
 

Materials and methods

Experiment 1: Agronomic evaluation of grasses with and without Sesbania sesban

Location, treatments and design

The study was conducted on former rice paddy land (1000 m²) in Can Tho, where the soil is acidic (pH  4–4.5) and temporarily waterlogged from August to October. The experimental area was divided into 16 plots in a randomized complete design. The four treatments in a 2*2 factorial arrangement were:

• Grass variety: Hymenachne acutigluna (HA) or Paspalum atratum (PA)  
• Association with legume: With or without Sesbana sesban

Hymenachne acutigluna stems and Paspalum atratum tillers were planted at spacing of 50 x 50cm and on the same day, inoculated Sesbania sesban was planted by cuttings on the plots corresponding to the association of grass*legume. The plots were fertilized at sowing with K (50 kg/ha), P (10 kg/ha) and N (20 kg/ha). The grasses and Sesbania were harvested at 60 days after planting and at 45 days for subsequent harvesting. The foliage was cut at 10 cm from the soil surface. Totally, four cuts were taken. The fresh biomass was sampled, pooled and placed in a porous paper bag for chemical analyses.

Chemical analyses

DM and N were determined according to AOAC (1990) procedures. NDF and ADF were analysed by the method described Van  Soest et al (1991).

Statistical analysis

The data were analyzed using the General Linear Model Procedure in the ANOVA Program of the Minitab Software version 13 31. Sources of variation were: Grasses, Sesbania, interaction Grasses*Sesbania and error.

Experiment 2: Feeding trial with cattle

Design and treatments

Twelve crossbred (local Yellow x Sindhi) cattle with  with initial live weight of 140 ± 3.2 kg were allocated to 3 treatments in a randomized design with 4 replicates. The treatments were:

• HA: Hymenachne acutigluna grass ad lib

• HA-SS:  Hymenachne acutigluna plus Sesbania foliage (3% of LW, fresh basis)

• PA-SS: Paspalum atratum plus Sesbania foliage (3% of LW, fresh basis)

Cattle in all treatments were given a rumen supplement (300 g/head/day) containing (%): urea 13, diammonium phosphate 3, lime 3, sulphur 0.5 and rice bran 80.5. The experiment lasted for 90 days. Feeds offered and refused were recorded. On 3 occasions (days 25-30, 55-60 and 85-90), faeces were collected and stored for future analysis.

Statistical analysis

The data were analyzed using the General Linear Model Procedure in the ANOVA Program of the Minitab Software version 13 31. Sources of variation were: treatments and error.

Results and discussion

Experiment 1. Agronomic evaluation of grasses with and without Sesbania sesban

Inter-planting the grasses with the legume tree Sesbania sesban had no effect on the DM content of the grasses but the CP content was increased and the NDF reduced (Table 1; Figures 1 and 2). Paspalum atratum had a higher DM content than Hymenachne acutigluna but CP, NDF and ADF did not differ between the two grasses. There were no interactions between the legume and the grass treatments in any of the composition criteria.

The increase of CP content in the grass/legume mixture may have been due to shading, as soil N availability is reported to increase in shaded areas stimulating plant growth and N uptake of grasses (Seresinhe et al 1994. The lower content of NDF in the legume-grass swards agrees with the findings of Tessema and Baars (2006), who reported a lower concentration of  NDF in grasses in mixed grass/legume mixtures.

Figure 1. Effect on crude protein content of grasses of inter-planting with Sesbania sesban	Figure 2. Effect on NDF content of grasses of inter-planting with Sesbania sesban

Production of grass DM and crude protein over the overall growth cycle of 195 days was increased  in the swards inter-planted with Sesbania (Table 2; Figures 3 and 4). The overall improvement over 195 days was of the order of 11% for DM and 50% in the case of the crude protein yield. This result is  in accordance with the report of Seresinhe and Pathirana (2000) that growing Panicum maximum grass under leguminous trees significantly increased grass DM yield.  The major effect of the legume on crude protein yield of the grass is supported by the results of Hare et al (2004) where  Centrosema pascuorum and Tha Phra stylo increased protein yield in Paspalum atratum  from 50 to 80%. 

Figure 3. Effect on grass DM yield of inter-planting with Sesbania sesban	Figure 4. Effect on grass crude protein yield of inter-planting with Sesbania sesban

Experiment 2: Grass and Sebania foliage for cattle

The combination of Sesbania foliage with either of the two grasses supported growth rates some 20% greater than when Hymenachne acutigluna grass was the sole diet (Table 3; Figure 5). There have been many reports on improving production of ruminants fed on grass mixed with tree-legume forages (Preston and Leng 1987). Cattle grazing on an associated system of Pennisetum and Leucaena grew faster than those grazed only on the grass (Mejías et al 2004). The enhanced performance of cattle in such systems will be partly a result of higher digestibility of the grass as observed in the present study (Table 3)  and in other reports (Hernandez et al 1995; Valentim and Andrade, 2004); and partly from the increase in the protein supply. It is estimated that supplementing with Sesbania would have raised the diet crude protein content from 10% in DM on the grass alone to 14% in DM with Sesbania.

Figure 5. Growth rates of cattle fed Hymenachne acutigluna grass as the sole diet, or Hymenachne acutigluna supplemented with Sesbania sesban or Paspalum atratum with Sesbania

Conclusions

• Inter-planting  Hymenachne acutigluna or Paspalum atratum with the legume tree Sesbania sesban resulted in increased yield of DM of 11% and of crude protein of 50% in the associated grass over an 195 day growth cycle.

• The crude protein in the grass DM was increased from 8.36-8.79% to 11.2-12.7% in the swards inter-planted with Sesbania

• The combination of Sesbania foliage with either of the two grasses supported growth rates in crossbred cattle that were some 20% greater than when Hymenachne acutigluna grass was the sole diet.

Acknowledgments

The support from the MEKARN project, financed by Sida, is gratefully acknowledged.

References

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Received 3 April 2009; Accepted 14 June 2009; Published 5 August 2009

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