P.C. Paat, D. Polakitan , S.K. Pajow, and J.G. Kindangen
Instalation of Agricultural Technology Assessment and Research
(IATAR) Kalasey Po. Box 1345 Manado 95013

ABSTRACT

An on-farm research was conducted to evaluate the productivity of King grass harvested at 45 days cutting interval and its effect on cattle performance.  The results showed that King grass had higher yield at first and second cutting periods with 3320.72 g/m2 and 4297.64 g/m2, respectively compared to native grass with 673.33g/m2 and 266.66 g/m2, respectively.   Cattle fed with King grass + native grass gained weight at 140.17g/head/day, while those fed with native grass had lower weight gain. 

INTRODUTION

In recent years, Indonesia consume approximately 1,000,000 cattle per year, more than 30 percent was supplied from its import (Diwyanto and Masbulan 2001). This indication showed that cattle are a marketable product.

The important problems of raising cattle in small scale cropping area are as follows:

 (1) competition of using the cultivated land for crop and cattle.

(2)  low quality and quantity feeds because of its dependence to native grasses and by-products, and

(3) lack of information on livestock raising  aand feeding management.

Therefore, the objectives of this adaptive research are to study the productivity and economics of King grass planted on the border of crop area.

METHODOLOGY

An on-farm research was conducted in Tondegesan North Sulawesi from June to December 2000.   Six farmers (each farmer has minimum of 0.5 ha of crop land and 3 AU of cattle), were involved in the study. King grass was planted on  1000 m2 on the border of corn and ground-nut area. The first harvest was done after 70 days and succeeding harvests were done at 45 days interval. By using trend monitoring design (Astuti 1981) the growth of grasses in initial phase was observed at 9 sampling plots and 2 points of time period. An initial feeding trial was conducted using 16 adult female cattle.  Eight (8) heads were fed with conventional feeds consisting of corn straw, corn husk and native grasses (control group) and the rest were fed with King grass substituting 40% of the conventional feeds. The body weight gain was measured every 14 days using the weight band. Cattle were treated with ecto and endo parasites at the start of the study.

King grass Productivity
King grass had significantly (P<0.01) higher fresh weight (4297.64 g/m2) compared to native grass (266.66 g/m2).  The second harvest of King grass was also significantly higher than the first  4297.64 vs. 3320.72 g/m2).

In Boyongbong West Java, Sajimin et al. (1999) reported that when King grass  was intercropped with gamal, it supplied 4900 or 5100 g/m2 to the animals.   This is much higher compared to the amount obtained when it was planted only on the border area of a crop land.

Results of the initial feeding trial showed that the average daily gain of cattle fed with King grass was significantly higher than those of the control (14,017 vs 600 g/head/day).  The following figure shows that during the plow seaon in September to December 2000, the weight gain of cattle but not those with 40% King grass supplementation.