Efficacy of concentrates containing tropical weed Chromolaena odorata, methionine hydroxy analog and palm oils in fattening male Bali cattle: A physiological study

Chromolaena odorata is a potential feed source but is low in methionine, which might affect the rumen function. Therefore providing efficient nutrient/s might improve rumen function. The study aimed to assess the efficacy of a concentrate containing Chromolaena odorata meal, hydroxy methionine analog (HMA), and palm oil on blood metabolites of fattened cattle. Sixteen Bali cattle (Bos sondaicus) with an average body weight of 130.5kg ± 32.5 were allotted into four dietary treatments (and four replicates) using a Completely Randomized Block Design with 4 cattle in each Group. The treatments were concentrates with no addition of palm oil and/or HMA as the control diet (Group I) , added with 3 g HMA (CMA) (Group II), added with 0.5% palm oil (Group III) and (CPO) added with a combination of 3 g HMA and 0.5% palm oil (CMO) Group IV). The concentrate was offered to the animals at a rate of 2% liveweight, whilst rice straws were provided ad libitum as the source of fiber. The concentrate contained 18% crude protein and 12 MJ ME/kg DM to target a live weight gain of at least 0.6 kg/day. Blood metabolites measured were total cholesterol levels, plasma glucose, plasma proteins, and plasma urea. Collected data were subjected to analysis of variance with the significance level set at an alpha value of ≤ 0.05. The results showed that providing concentrate-containing. C. odorata with or without HMA and/or palm oil (Group IV) only significantly affected blood plasma proteins, whereas other blood metabolites were unaffected. It might be concluded that there is no benefit of adding palm oil or methionine analog to chromolaena-based concentrate for fattened cattle since it will not affect the concentration of blood metabolites.