Authors : D. Mutetikka, F. Bareeba and J. Semakula
Abstract: An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of type and level of supplement on the in vitro organic matter digestibility of banana leaf diets. Mature leaves from six varieties of banana; Matooke (MT), Kayinja (BW), Ndiizi (ND), Bogoya (BG), Kisubi (KS) and Kivuuvu (BR) were collected from Busiita parish, Sironko district on the slopes of Mt. Elgon in Eastern Uganda. These were dried at 60°C to a constant weight, ground to pass through a 1 mm screen and mixed with supplements of Cottonseed Cake (CSC), Sunflower Cake (SFC) and Maize Bran (MB) at levels of 0, 15 and 30% each giving a total of eighteen different mixtures. In vitro digestibility was determined using the method described by Tilley and Terry. Inoculum was obtained from a fistulated steer fed a normal grass diet. Samples were incubated for a period of 96 h. Statistical analysis for a one-way Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) was carried out using SAS. The mean in vitro organic matter digestibilities for the 18 treatments were: Alone (55.4%), with MB (66.3%), with CSC (62.3%) and 58.5% with SFC. For the different varieties, mean banana leaf in vitro OMD values were; 59.6% for BG, 58.7% for BR, 66.9% for BW, 56.6% for KS, 58.2% for MT and 63.8% for ND. The digestibility mean values for most varieties were not significantly different (p>0.05) except those of BW (66.9%) and ND (63.8%). When banana leaf organic matter was supplemented with MB, digestibility was higher (p<0.05) than that of other diets where either CSC or SFC were used as supplements, although CSC mean digestibility values were higher than those for SFC. The changes in OMD were 19.7, 12.6 and 5.5% for MB, CSC and SFC, respectively compared to no supplement. At the different levels of supplementation, the mean in vitro OMD were; 60.7% for the 15 and 64.1% for the 30% levels of supplementation. The OMD was increased by about 15.7% at 30% levels compared to the 9.5% increase at the 15% level of supplementation. The study revealed that addition of an easily available source of nutrients can greatly enhance digestibility of banana leaves.
D. Mutetikka, F. Bareeba and J. Semakula, 2010. Effect of Type and Level of Supplement on the in vitro Organic Matter Digestibility of Banana Leaf Diets Offered to Ruminants in Uganda. Agricultural Journal, 5: 98-100.