Measuring Impact

Research that works for developing countries and Australia

 

LPS: Opportunities to use cocoa pods and forages to address feed gaps in the dry season in Southeast Sulawesi

Project ID:
SMAR/2007/013
Collaborating Countries:
Indonesia
Project Locations
Commissioned Organisation:
University of Queensland, Australia
Project Leader
Associate Professor Dennis Poppi
Phone: 07 3365 2573
Fax: 07 3346 3246
Email: d.poppi@uq.edu.au
Collaborating Institutions:
  • Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology (Southeast Sulawesi), Indonesia
  • University of Haluoleo, Indonesia
  • University of Tadulako, Indonesia
  • University of Mataram, Indonesia
  • Assessment Institute for Agricultural Technology (NTT), Indonesia
Project Budget:
$129,536
Project Duration:
01/01/2007 - 31/12/2008
Project Extension:
01/01/2009 - 30/06/2009
ACIAR Research Program Manager
Dr Bill Winter
Project Overview

In southeast Sulawesi a background problem in the beef sector is poor growth and reproduction, primarily ascribed to low quality and at times low availability of feed. Consultations held in Sultra, SE Sulawesi placed a high priority on the utilisation of residues from the cocoa industry for beef cattle production. This initiative will expand the scope of project LPS/2004/023 (Strategies to increase growth of the weaned Bali calf) to include the BPTP Sultra and the University of Haluoleo in work that addresses the cocoa residue issue, broadens the range of higher quality feeds available to farmers and builds local capacity through the conduct of on-station and on-farm research.

Project Progress Reports
Year One

The project commenced in July 2007 with a project planning meeting with partners from BPTP South East Sulawesi (South East Sulawesi; Sultra), the University of Haluoleo (Sultra) and the University of Tadulako (Central Sulawesi). Activities to address the two researchable issues of the project, namely the utilisation of cocoa-pods as a feed resource and the use of new forages to address dry season feed shortages, were developed. Development of a simple cocoa-pod processing method, activities to evaluate forages in the dry season and a series of on-station and village based feeding studies were planned.

The research activities commenced at the end of the main cocoa harvest, in August 2007. Cocoa-pods were collected and processed, either with or without fermentation with Aspergillus niger and stored for future use in on-station and village feeding studies. A village feeding experiment was conducted between September and December, 2007, to determine the effect of fermentation of cocoa-pods with Aspergillus niger on growth of Bali cattle, compared with unfermented cocoa-pods. Bali cattle fed fermented cocoa-pods, at 1.5% of LW on a dry matter basis, grew at 0.33 kg/day compared with cattle fed unfermented cocoa-pods, at the same level, which grew at 0.27 kg/day. A separate study, conducted by the University of Tadulako, demonstrated that fermentation of cocoa-pods with Aspergillus niger increased the crude protein content and decreased the neutral detergent fibre content, compared with unfermented cocoa-pods. A simple cocoa-pod chopper has been sourced and will be utilised in villages during the upcoming cocoa harvest. The new cocoa-pod chopper is manually operated, with an option to add a small motor if desired, and is inexpensive and simple to operate and maintain.

Forage legume evaluation plots were established in dry land and low land rice field areas in Ladongi district, in November 2007 and biomass production of a range of legumes was determined. Biomass production was greatest for Lab lab purpureus, followed by Clitoria ternatea, Macroptilium bracteatum, Centrosema pasuorum, Stylosanthes hamata and Desmanthus pernambucanus, 100 to 140 days after sowing. Best-bet forage legumes (Lab lab, Clitoria and Macroptilium) will be scaled out on paddy fields after the rice harvest, utilising sub-soil moisture to provide a forage resource available for the tethering and grazing of growing calves during the dry-season. It is expected that this will increase soil fertility, through nitrogen fixation of legumes and manure from the tethered calves.

A long term growth path study conducted at the University of Mataram revealed no difference in live weight gain between male and female cattle between 6 and 18 months of age. This work also demonstrated that Bali cattle can be fed diets comprised solely of tree legumes and will grow at 0.35 to 0.40 kg/day; however large variation in daily live weight gain exists between individual animals.

Staff from BPTP Sultra and the University of Haluoleo have been involved in all activities associated with LPS 2004 023 and have also participated in other training and workshops on experimental design and statistical analysis and laboratory methods for the analysis of soils and plant materials.