A response of feed intake, nutrient digestibility and methane production of cattle to different supplementation levels of coconut oil in the Mekong delta of VietNam

Abstract

Four Lai Sind cattle (213+27.6 kg) were arranged in a 4x4 Latin square design with the grorving. The treatments were the rice straw and concentrate (CCO0), rice straw, concentrate + 1% coconut oil (CCOI), rice straw, concentrate + 2% coconut oil (CCO2) and rice straw, concentrate + 3% coconut oil (CCO3) based on dietary dry matter. In all the treatments the rice straw was fed ad libitum, while concentrate (14.4% crude protein [CP] and 3000 kcal/kg dry matter) were fed at a level of 1 kg per 150 kg live weight (LW). The results showed that dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) intakes were gradually reduced when increasing coconut oil levels in the diets, and they were significantly different (P<0.05) among the treatments. The apparent digestibility of DM, OM, CB ADF and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) were not significantly different (P>0.05) among the treatments, while the daily weight gain in treatments was also similar (P>0.05). CH4 production was significantly different (P<0.05) among the treatments. They were gradually reduced when increasing the coconut oil levels in the diets, particularly there was a significant reduction (P<0.05) of CH4 production (L/day, L/kg dry matler intake, L/kg digested dry matter and L/kgLW) for the CCO3 treatment compared to the CCO0 treatment and the CH4 reduction being from 23.7 to 32.9% in the CCO3 compared to CCO0 treatment. The conclusion was that the supplementation of oconut oil to cattle diets from I to 3% gradually reduced methane production and did not have any negative effects on nutrient digestibility, however a reduction of feed and nutrient intake was found.