Comparative effect of application of different animal manures on yield and nutritive value of maize forage

• Main Author: Fum, Mun Keng
• Format: Undergraduate Final Project Report
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/5516/

An experiment was conducted to investigate the comparative effect of application of poultry manure, goat manure and cow dung on yield, nutrient comparative and digestibility of maize forage. Hence field experiment was organised in agropark of Jeli Campus, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan. Maize seeds were sown in the polybags following a CRD design with three treatments having 5 replications of each treatment. Three manures were applied to the soil of polybags following the recommended doses such as: 20 t/ha of goat manure (GM), 15 t/ha of poultry manure (PM) and 15 t/ha of cow dung (CD). The fodders were harvested at the time of following and yields were recorded. Then the samples were taken for chemical analysis foe determination of nutrient composition: proximate components and also ADF and NDF contents. The forage samples were also taken and in vitro digestibility of organic matter and energy contents were also determined. The result showed that application of poultry manure gave the highest yield (Tonnes/ha)of maize forage (54.02), followed by that of goat manure (32.73) and that of cow dung gave (10.59). As regards to nutrient composition of maize forage poultry manure resulted in a highest DM, OM and CP contents whereas goat manure having the intermediate position and cow dung resulted in the lowest level of manure having the important nutrients in the forage. There were no significant effect of the type of livestock manure on the OM digestibility, DE and ME contents of maize forage. However, application of poultry manure gave rise to non-significantly higher digestibility of organic matter (60.92%), digestible energy (10.26 MJ/kg of DM) as well as metabolisable energy (8.62 MJ/kg of DM). From the comparison it appears that poultry manure is the best among others in term of maize forage yield, its nutrient contents and digestibility, while goat manure was second to poultry manure in terms of these parameters.