Study on cultivation of cassava, leucaena and stylosanthes grass for leaf meal production for chicken diet supplement

Tu Quang Hien, Tu Quang Trung, Tran Thị Hoan, Mai Anh Khoa, Tu Trung Kien

Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine leaf meal production performance and leaf meal product cost of cassava, leucaena and stylosanthes forage crops, in order to prioritize the rating of the leaf meal production for supplementation into poultry diets. The experimental forage crops were grown on up land in the north of Vietnam with an area of 500 m2 per crop (100 m2 x 5 replicates). The experiment was conducted in three years. The fresh biomass, fresh leaves, leaf meal productivity and the production cost of forage crops were examined. Leaf meal yield of cassava, leucaena and stylosanthes grass was respectively 9.225; 8.493 and 7.247 (tons/ha/ year). The ME yield (MJ/ha/year) was 76,434; 79,101 and 51,473, respectively. The crude protein yield (kg/ ha/year) was 1,997; 2,174 and 1,243. The production cost of 1kg DM, 1 MJ ME, 1kg CP of cassava leaf meals hereinafter considered as 100%, then that of leucaena was 95.2; 92.9 and 81.8%, that of stylosanthes was 142.2; 168.9 and 182.9%. With this result, the experimental crops grown for leaf meal production for chicken diet supplement were ranked in the priority order as follows: leucaena, cassava and stylosanthes grass, respectively.

Keywords: cassava; forage crops; fresh biomass; fresh leaves; leaf meal; leucaena; stylosanthes

Date published: 2018-11-02