Evaluation of village-based diets for increasing the weight and condition of Ongole (Bos indicus) and Bali (Bos javanicus) cows in Indonesia.

The aim of this research was to compare different feeding strategies to increase the weight and body condition score (BCS) of Ongole (Bos indicus) and Bali (Bos javanicus) cows kept by smallholder farmers in Indonesia. Thirty mature, non-pregnant, non-lactating Ongole and Bali cows were allocated to one of three treatment groups in a randomised block design, with five cows of each breed per treatment. The experiment consisted of a 2-week adaptation period and 24-week experimental period. In Weeks 1-17 cows were offered one of three diets; rice straw ad libitum plus gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) at 3 g DM/kg W.day (RSG3), rice straw at 10 g DM/kg W.day plus gliricidia at 10 g DM/kg W.day, or elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum) ad libitum. During Weeks 18-24 the cows previously fed the RSG3 diet were offered rice straw ad libitum plus rice bran at 10 g DM/kg W.day. There was no change to diets of the other groups. Feeding untreated rice straw plus gliricidia or rice bran only provided enough metabolisable energy for maintenance of both breeds. Ongole and Bali cows consuming elephant grass gained weight at 0.25 and 0.33 kg/day, respectively. However, even at these higher growth rates it would still take ~4-6 months for cows to gain 1 BCS unit (1-5 scale). Maintaining a good BCS would be a better management strategy. The reproductive performance of cows can be improved through better nutrition. We evaluated the potential of village-based diets to increase the weight and condition of cows in a short period of time, but none of the diets contained enough metabolisable energy or protein for high liveweight gains. Increasing condition of cows quickly is difficult within village-based systems and a more efficient strategy would be to maintain condition of cows during pregnancy and lactation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]