Dry matter productivity and nutritive quality of leucaena hybrid lines for high protein feed production

A. Aminah* and C.C. Wong**

Abstract

Dry matter productivity and nutritive value of two leucaena hybrid lines namely 40-1-18 (Bharu) and 62-6-8 (Rendang) were studied at the Department of Veterinary Services farm, Kelantan from 1998 to 2001. The treatments comprised 8, 10 and 12 weekly cutting intervals. Highest dry matter productivity was obtained at 12 weekly cutting interval with yields of 40 288 and 38 640 kg/ha per year obtained from 40-1-18 and 62-6-8, respectively. The cumulative dry matter productivity declined with shorter cutting intervals. Respective yields at 10 and 8 weekly intervals were 39 775 and 33 294 in 40-1-18, and 37 550 and 26 298 kg/ha per year in 62-6-8. The respective total leaf dry matter yields when harvested at every 12, 10 and 8 weekly intervals were 20 376, 18 460 and 17 970 kg/ha per year in 40-1-18, and 20 084, 17 470 and 16 038 kg/ha per year in 62-6-8. The mean crude protein content in 40-1-18 was 25.17% while 26.93% in 62-6-8. The mean crude protein yield calculated was 4 968 kg/ha per year in 40-1-18 and 4 635 kg/ha per year in 62-6-8. The ADF, ash, Ca, P and Mg were not much affected by the cutting frequencies in both lines.

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