Khieu Borin, Than Soeurn, T R Preston1 and Kenji Sato2
Department of Animal Health and Production
Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
The integration of the sugar plam tree in the farming system is the best alternative for sustainable production from this natural resource. This provides new jobs and income for the farmers and will help avoid the migration to the city.
The diversification of sugar plam juice for pig feeding has had a great impact among the rural people in Cambodia. In two studies on 27 farms, 102 crossbred pigs were raised from 20 to 80 kg with plam juice and two levels of protein (156 g/day from soya beans [SB] or 120 g/day from dry fresh water fish [DFWF]. The average daily weight gains were 356 g and 420 g per day per pig for (SB) and (DFWF), respectively.
A total of 105 male and female sugar palm trees were studied during a period of five months. The results demonstrated that a palm tree produces seasonally an average of 5 kg of juice per day with a Brix value (approximate sugar content) of 13.3 %. There were no significant differences between days in the yield of juice and Brix value (P=0.390 and P=0.534), respectively. However there was a highly significant difference in the yield of juice and Brix value between families, months and sex of the palm tree (P<0.001) and a significant difference in Brix value between male and female trees in favour of the latter (P=0.005).
Keyword: Palm juice, Borassus flabellifer, Brix, pig, protein, soya beans, dry fresh water fish.
1 Finca Ecologica, University of Agriculture and Forestry, Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam (E-mail:
thomas%preston%sarec%[email protected])
2 GCP/RAS/143/JPN, University of Agriculture and Forestry, Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh city (E-mail:
kenji%uaf%sarec%[email protected])
Introduction
As the human population grows there is a need for more food to satisfy the increased demand. The production of meat from non-ruminants (pigs and poultry) is increasing faster than that of meat from ruminants because of the quick turnover of the capital and the ease of marketing. This tends to increase the demand for energy and protein feeds to support the production. The best way to achieve this goal is to use feed resources which are non-competitive with the needs of people. The most common feeds which are used for pigs in the country are rice bran, banana stems, sweet potato leaves, water spinach, water hyacinth, duckweed, cassava and dry fresh water fish.
Fattening pigs is one of the popular practices of the farmers in the rural areas in Cambodia. Generally, piglets are purchased after rice harvest. The reason for buying piglets at this time is that farmers have enough money and feed available from rice by-products which is the major feed ingredient. The traditional feeding practices depend on the available feed resources in the region. The low performance of pigs in the traditional production system is basically a result of the poor quality, and limited availability, of the feed resources. There are also other important factors that affect the production system, such as management, breeds and mortality caused by infectious disease and parasites.
Cambodian farmers have demonstrated their capability to improve their living situation partly by using new methods in agricultural production. An important part of this thinking is the strategy to increase animal production based on local resources. The use of sugar palm juice as an energy feed for pigs could be an interesting possibility for the small farm. The diversification of palm juice for growing and fattening pigs will help to stabilize the environment and conserve the biodiversity by decreasing fuel wood consumption for sugar production. However, in order to ensure the technical and economic feasibility of pig production, it is necessary to either utilize conventional feeds or develop new alternatives based on non-conventional feeds for pigs.
Sources of income
Most of the income for people in the rural areas comes from farming activities. Rice production is generally considered as food security because when they do not produce enough rice to feed the family in a year, it means that they may lose everything. There are other crops which provide a cash income like sugar cane, water melon, sweet potato, ground nut and vegetables. The most important contribution of income is from livestock. Livestock provides not only cash income but it is also giving manure, meat and draught power.
Juice production
A study was carried out during a period of 5 months (January-May, 1995) in order to evaluate juice production from sugar palm trees (male and female). The average yield in January was 4.7 kg per day per palm, while the maximum yield of 5.7 kg was noted in February after which yield decreased to a mean of 4.2 kg in May (SE ±0.13). There was a highly significant difference in yield between months, sex of the palm and farmers (P<0.001). The average yield of palm juice varied between farmers and ranged from 2.7 to 7.5 kg per three per day. The average yield of female palms was 5.3 kg per day compared with 4.7 kg from the male tree (Table 1). The average Brix value was 13.3% (SE ±0.14) for the whole period. There was no significant difference in Brix value between days (P=0.534). However, the Brix value was higher (P=0.005) in the juice from the female tree compared with the male. There were highly significant differences in Brix value between farmers and months (P<0.001). The Brix value ranged from 12.6% in January to 14.1% in May (SE±0.09). The yield of juice decreased from the first to the fifth month, while in contrast the Brix value gradually increased.
Twenty four samples were taken at two different times within the same period of study. The composition of the syrup samples (Table 2 and Figures 1 and 2) showed considerable variation among farmers and harvest period. Sucrose as percent of total solids in the juice ranged from 66 to 94% in the samples taken in January and from 51 to 88% in April. A “T” test of the differences (Table 3), paired by farmer, showed that the mean value decreased (P=0.021) from January to April.
In contrast, glucose and fructose levels in juice increased (P=0.021 and P=0.006, respectively). The levels of glucose ranged from 2.1 to 9.6% in samples taken in January and from 3.5 to 18.2% in April. The fructose levels ranged from 2.6 to 11% in samples taken in January and from 4.6 to 24.5% in April.
Juice for pig feeding
The first trial (Borin et al 1996) was carried out in Bati district, Takeo province with 72 crossbred pigs distributed to 12 farms. The pigs were raised during 150 days with the average initial weight of 20 kg. The diet for a pig was composed by an average of 8 kg of palm juice, 400 g of soya beans (156 g of protein), 500 g of water spinach, 5 g of lime and 5 g of salt. The daily weight gain of the pigs varied from one farmer to another, and the average daily gain was 356 g per pig per day, with a range from 320 to 417 g (table 4).
The second trial was conducted in Samroung district, Takeo province. In this trial 30 pigs were distributed to 15 farms with the initial weight of 22 kg. The diet was a little different from the first trial. The composition of the diet for a pig was 6.5 kg of palm juice, 1 kg of rice bran, 300 g of dry fresh water fish (110 g of protein), 5 g of salt and the supplement of vegetable according to the availability. The daily weight gain was 420 g per pig per day and ranged from 220–580 g.
The reason that the live weight gain of the pigs in the second trial was higher than the first one, could be that the amino acids in the dry fresh water fish have better balance than those in soya beans. The trial demonstrated that a low level of protein can be used when amino acids are well balanced and especially when using it with an energy source free of protein like sugar plam juice. Besides this, the price of dry fresh water fish was 450 Riels/kg cheaper compared to the price of soya beans which have a lot of fluctuation. For example, in 1995 during the first trial the price of soya beans was 625 Riels/kg in December and had gone up to 1,500 Riels/kg in June 1996.
Strategy of benefiting from sugar palm tree
The best way to improve the efficiency of using the sugar palm tree into the sustainable production is to integrate it in the farming system, especially the utilization of juice for animal feeding. Pigs, chicken and ducks are the priority choice of animals for this feeding system. The estimation of 8 million sugar palm trees in the country may produce enough juice to feed 3–4 million pigs or 14 million ducks. This shows great potential replacement of cereal utilization for animal feeding. It is very important for the country like Cambodia which has never been producing enough cereal grain to feed the population since 1979. As today, the population increases 2.5% annually according to NISE (1995), therefore there will be a demand not only for cereal, but also the protein. In this case, pigs, chickens and ducks are the first preference as they grow fast and have high demand by the people.
Integrated system
The integrated farming system is environmentally friendly when the biodigester is playing an intermediate role in the system. The biodigester technology is expanding very fast in Cambodia. At present there are about 450 digesters installed in different provinces. The popularity of the biodigester is because it can be joined together with the human latrine because firewood is no longer free requiring time or money for the collection. In addition, when pigs are raised in the confinement system they produce waste and manure as a substrate for the digester. Previously, the manure was not used as the pigs were kept mostly on the scavenging system. The biodigester does not produce only gas (methane) for household cooking but it also provides better quality fertilizer for the rice field and vegetable garden compared to the fresh manure. Farmers participating in the GCP/RAS/143/JPN programme of FAO and in the Lutheran World Service (LWS) projects have demonstrated that the biodigester provides great value by cutting down the expenditure for chemical fertilizer. The slurry from the digester is safe and it can be used as feed in the fish pond. It is also very important that the house keepers (wives) are happy to participate in the system because it provides a clean environment in the kitchen as well as the whole house and it gives her more time to perform other work or participate in some social activities.
In this system, the fibre-free energy in sugar palm juice can play important role that allows the utilization of feed with high fibre content which is part of the system such as foliage from trees and water plants (Elliott et al 1987). All these sources of protein are available in the ponds or around the households which are part of the farming system, such as Trichanthera gigantea, duckweed (Lemna ssp.), water spinach (Ipomea aquatica) and azolla (Azolla spp). When using palm juice as the sole energy source, the total protein needed is reduced considerably. This is because the ratio of essential amino acids in protein supplements such as soya beans, fish and water plants is quite close to the optimum level.
Animal production based on sugar palm
Livestock have played an important role in the farming systems by providing draught power, organic fertilizer, meat, egg and income generation. However, without proper planning and management, animals will also create problems like erosion, deforestation and pollution. As it is happening in many countries in the world like Brazil, a lot of forest has been cut down for beef and dairy production. The over-grazing by cattle in Dodoma region in Tanzania shows clearly as an example of soil erosion (Ogle 1990). Livestock also contribute approximately 20% of methane emissions especially from digestive fermentation in the gut of herbivores (Preston 1995). Therefore, the opportunity to develop livestock production in Cambodia should be based on small-scale farmers and the adequate utilization of local resources. The free range system is the common practice for all kinds of livestock in Cambodia. But at the present there is a need to utilize available land for crop production in order to satisfy the demand of the population which is growing up very fast. The sustainable way to keep the system working and to solve these problems is to raise the animals in the semi-scavenging practice especially cattle, buffaloes and poultry. For instance, sugar palm products and by-products can be used as the energy basal diet with the protein supplement from the leaves of multipurpose trees like Gliricidia, Acacia, Leucaena, Nacedero, etc. and water plants such as Duckweed, Azolla, Water spinach and so on. This should be the alternative way for livestock production in Cambodia. In the same strategy pigs are proposed to be confined because of their strong behavior to destroy crops like sweet potato and vegetable garden. Keeping pigs in a pen will also provide additional income as mentioned above.
Constraints of livestock development
One clear example of a constraint is that the majority of the farmers raise fattening pigs but very few raise sows which makes the system unbalanced. Therefore, the price of the piglets (15–20 kg) is relatively high (100,000 Riels) compared to the finishing pigs (90–100 kg) which cost about 330,000 Riels. The other important aspect is that most of the animal scientist, from the low level until the top including the new graduate students, are more interested in working in animal health as they have been taught, rather than finding the alternative way to improve the feeding system and the feed quality.
It is difficult to have the real resource persons who would like to work directly with the rural people. Most of them after getting a high degree are concentrated in offices in towns or cities. When they do work with the farmers they tend to use the top-down decision making and to be specialized rather than realistic.
Perspectives for pig production
The participation of the local people (farmers) from the beginning of the project is crucial. The sustainable development should have the involvement from farmers in discussion, planning and implementation. It is crucial that both sexes are participating in the discussion, planning as well as implementing. The role of women in this activities is very important because she is the one who feeds animals and spends most of her time to look after the farming system. However, the man does the rest of the activities such as climbing sugar palm tree, ploughing the land and digging the pond. The credit programme will be the choice for the poorer farmers who do not have money to start for the first time.
The strategy for long term and sustainable development is to establish the reproduction system which can provide piglets in the villages, which will be more adapted to the native environment and local feed conditions. In this case, the indigenous pigs such as Chrouk Domrey, Chrouk Hainam and Chrouk Kandor, are proposed because of their prolificacy, behavior and efficient use of local feed resources.
In the tropics there are many plant species that can be utilized better for animal feeding from the economic and environmental points of view than the imported feed concentrates. They are excellent components of the integrated farming system and are important in the ecological context. The plants which produce energy-rich feed are sugar cane, sugar palm trees and all palms yielding juice (Coco nucifera, Arenga pinnata, Borassus species, Caryota urens and Nypa fruiticans), oil palm and cassava. However, in all livestock feeding, the most expensive ingredient is protein. In fact, on the small farm in the remote areas, the availability of protein is restricted to what can be grown on the farm and the by-products available in the areas. In these case, it is of crucial to introduce multipurpose plant species and water plants that could be part of the system and used as animal feed.
Conclusions
The multipurpose sugar plam trees have played an important role in improving the living condition of the poor farmers as they may not require inputs and are very efficient in utilization of solar energy. The integration of sugar palm tree in the whole farming system not only provides energy for animals but it will also maintain the biodiversity. Pigs and ducks are the priority choices for this system. The waste of animals should be recycling through an anaerobic system (plastic biodigester) which produces gas for cooking and good quality fertilizer for crops or plants. The latter can serve as protein supplement for the same animals.
References
Khieu Borin, Preston T R and Lindberg J E 1996 Juice production from the sugar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer) in Cambodia and the performance of growing pigs fed sugar palm juice. (MSc thesis in Sustainable Tropical Animal System, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala). pp 1–11.
Khieu Borin, Lindberg J E and Preston T R 1996 A study on the multipurpose tree (Borassus flabellifer) and its products for animal feeding in Cambodia. (MSc thesis in Sustainable Tropical Animal System, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala). pp 1–10.
Elliott R and Kloren W R L 1987 The use of sugar in diets for monogastrics. Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia. University of New England: Armidale, NSW pp 164–169.
NISE 1995 National Institute of Statistics and Economics. Ministry of Planning, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Ogle B 1990 Suggestion for intensive livestock-based smallholder systems in semi-arid areas of Tanzania. Livestock Research for Rural Development, Volume 2, Number 1: Paper 7
Preston T R 1995 Tropical Animal Feeding: A manual for research workers, FAO Animal Production and Health Paper, No. 126.
