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Second FAO Electronic Conference on Tropical Feeds
Livestock Feed Resources within Integrated Farming Systems
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Abstract of the thirteenth paper, from R. Perez.

Questions that might stimulate discussions on this topic
include:

1. How do you compare these different uses of soybean?

- whole plant as forage;
- cooked grains and straws as feeds;
- production of oil and meal.

2. Which system is more profitable in your area?

3. Are there any other oil producing crops in your area that
could be used in a similar way as soya in this paper?

4. Do you have other examples apart from soya on the
possibilities of avoiding antinutritional factors by feeding
plants at a young stage?


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SOYBEAN FORAGE AS A SOURCE OF PROTEIN FOR LIVESTOCK IN CUBA

Rena Perez

Dpto. Producciones Agropecuarias No-caneras
Calle 23 y O, Vedado
Ministerio del Azucar
La Habana, Cuba
E-mail: 71055.111@compuserve.com

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ABSTRACT

The use of milk-stage soybean forage as a source of protein
for livestock production in Cuba is still in its infancy, and
perhaps, the fact that the only performance data in this
entire report refers to the average weaning weight of seven,
40-day-old piglets, as 8.8 kg, definitely supports this
observation. The sow s diet consisted of sugarcane juice and
soy forage, and the piglets, in addition to nursing, had
access to the same feeds. Presently, in more than 100
sugarcane-sector farms or coops, green soybeans are being used
as a source of protein for livestock. In Cuba, 156 sugar mills
and 1300 cane coops employ nearly half a million workers, and
all have to be fed. Since 1983, the cane-sector, the sector
responsible for cultivating one-third of total arable land on
the island, has endeavoured to produce all its
agricultural-based food needs and has promoted livestock
production. For this, a total of 95 thousand hectares are used
to produce rice, beans, tubercles and fresh vegetables, as
well as some animal feeds. The development of sustainable
agronomic systems has been promoted; mostly, because all
available machinery, fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and
petroleum have been prioritized for the production of
sugarcane.

The use of milk-stage, soybean forage as a protein source for
livestock rather than imported soybean meal or the whole bean,
presently used mostly to produce yogurt for distribution to
children, is an attempt to accommodate the new,
tropics-oriented, zero-grain, livestock production system
(Preston and Murgueitio, 1992) to the present agronomic and/or
economic reality of the sugarcane-sector state farms and coops
in Cuba.

KEY WORDS: Protein source, soybean forage, soybean hay, green
soya, feed, pig

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FAO ELECTRONIC CONFERENCE:
LIVESTOCK FEED RESOURCES WITHIN INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS
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