Pre-harvest pearl millet tillers and leaves as animal food |
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| Authors: | Tielkes E Gall CF |
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| Institution: | (1) Institute of Animal Production in the Tropics and Sub-Tropics, University of Hohenheim (480), 70593 Stuttgart, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Feeding experiments with pre-harvest tillers and leaves of 2 varieties of pearl-millet were conducted on a research station in semi-arid Mali. Tillers were harvested at 45 to 65 days after sowing (DAS) and fed green. Leaves were harvested at 65 to 85 DAS and fed to sheep or cattle green or after 8 months conservation as hay or as silage.Intake of organic (IOM) was higher for green leaves than for tillers, showing no difference for the 2 varieties used. In vivo digestible organic matter (DOM) was highest for tillers in both varieties. Nutritive value of tillers and green leaves met the quality criteria for a maintenance diet of sheep.During conservation of millet leaves, the reduction in nutritional value was less with hay than with silage. Small amounts of silage offered as a supplement to rice straw helped to meet maintenance requirements for metabolizable energy. Conserved as hay, a quality forage was obtained which on an economic scale compensated for grain yield losses when fed to selected animals. |
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