%0 Journal Article
%T Effects of supplementation of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Piat¨¢ and Napier grass with Desmodium distortum on feed intake, digesta kinetics and milk production in crossbred dairy cows
%A Cyprian Ebong
%A Idupulapati M. Rao
%A Ignatius V. Nsahlai
%J Archive of "Animal Nutrition".
%D 2018
%R 10.1016/j.aninu.2018.01.006
%X This study was planned to analyse the basis that make Brachiaria species with greater feeding value than Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) for lactating dairy cows. Forty lactating crossbred cows were stall-fed on Brachiariabrizantha cv. Piat¨¢ or Napier grass cv. French Cameroon supplemented (mixed on fresh matter basis) or unsupplemented with Desmodium distortum, a forage legume. All cows were fed on fresh matter basis under small-holder farming conditions. Results showed that B. brizantha cv. Piat¨¢ had higher contents of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and organic matter (OM), but lower contents of neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) than Napier grass (P < 0.001). The legume supplementation increased intakes of CP and metabolizable energy (ME; P < 0.001), with higher effect on cows fed B. brizantha cv. Piat¨¢ than on cows fed Napier grass. Average daily milk yield was lower on diets based on Napier grass than those based on B. brizantha cv. Piat¨¢ (P < 0.001). The retention time of the particle phase of digesta in the digestive tract was longer on Napier grass (83.1 h) than on B. brizantha cv. Piat¨¢ (62.8 h) (P < 0.05). It was concluded that in dairy cows, legume supplementation of B. brizantha cv. Piat¨¢ increases nutrient intake, hence resulting in higher milk yields than supplementation of Napier grass
%K Brachiaria grass
%K Tropical grasses
%K Napier grass
%K Nutrient intake
%K Legume supplementation
%K Retention time
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6103467/