Molasses, cassava and cottonseed meal as supplements to fresh and ensiled sugarcane tops

Abstract

A 2 x 2 x 4 factorially designed experiment involving fresh and ensiled sugar cane tops, Holstein and Zebu cattle, and no supplement, molasses, cassava roots and cottonseed meal was conducted for a period of 112 days. The Holstein cattle averaged 264 kg in body weight initially, and the Zebus weighed an average of 246 kg initially. Six head from each breed were slaughtered to determine initial body composition by the specific gravity technique. The mean shrunk weight of the animals slaughtered was 257 kg for the Holsteins and 251 kg for the Zebus. The Holsteins contained 9.9% body fat at the start of the experiment, and the Zebus contained 8.6% fat. This difference was not statistically significant. Animals were fed in groups of three, with the fresh or ensiled cane tops allowed ad libitum and the supplements fed at their rate of 0.5 kg of supplement per 100 kg of body weight. Including all animals and all supplements, those animals fed silage ate significantly less dry matter and gained significantly less than those fed fresh cops. The consumption of either molasses or cassava roots with fresh or ensiled tops caused a significant drop in dry matter consumption from cane tops. The dry matter consumed form the supplement, however, was sufficient to maintain the daily weight change when compared to no supplement. There was no significant difference, therefore, in the gains of the usupplemented animals and those fed molasses or cassava roots. Thus, a cottonseed meal supplement of 0.5 kg per 100 kg of body weight caused an average stimulation of weight gain of 0.78 kg per day. Although there was no significant difference between Holsteins and Zebus in shrunk weight gain, there was a significant difference using gain in empty body weight. The failure of the shrunk weight gain to show a difference between breeds is due to the difference in reticulo-rumen fill, the Zebus having less fill than the Holsteins. The Zebus were also fatter, and caused a greater energy retention than that of the Holsteins. It appears from this comparison that, on a dry matter basis, fresh or ensiled sugarcane tops are comparable to Bermudagrass hay in energy value. The cottonseed meal used in this trial had a net energy for production comparable to barley or corn but a lower value for maintenance.