Weight and chemical composition of the plant parts of enset (Ensete ventricosum) and the intake and degradability of enset by cattle

Three varieties of enset (Ensete ventricosum), Agade, Badedat and Lemat, were collected in the Guraghe zone in Ethiopia. The plant parts (the leaf lamina, leaf midribs, pseudostem sheath, pseudostem core and corm) were separated, weighed and analysed. The dried samples were analysed for dry matter (DM), total ash, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and lignin. There was no significant difference between varieties in the proportion of the DM weight of the plant parts to the total DM weight of each respective variety nor was there any difference between varieties in their chemical components except in the lignin of the pseudostem sheath where Badedat variety had a lower content of Lignin, and the DM and CP of the corm where Lemat variety had lower values than the two other varieties. The average values in percent of DM for the chemical composition of leaf and pseudostem respectively were 12.6 and 7.2 (CP), 62.7 and 23.7 (NDF), 40.9 and 9.8 (ADF), 6.7 and 1.8 (lignin) and 12.6 and 7.8 (ash). The DM content was 11.7% in the leaves and 15.8% in the pseudostem. The voluntary intake of enset leaf and pseudostem with or without urea supplementation was determined using eight non-lactating Ethiopian zebu cows with an average live weight of 197.5 kg (S.D. = 12.42) in the experiment. Urea supplementation had a significant effect on DM intake of pseudostem of enset (22.0 vs. 25.6 g/kg body weight/day for unsupplemented and urea supplemented respectively) but had no significant effect on the DM intake of the leaf (24.3 vs 24.8 g/kg body weight/day for unsupplemented and urea-supplemented respectively). The rumen degradability of the plant parts (the leaf lamina, leaf midribs, pseudostem sheath, pseudostem core and corm) of three varieties of enset was studied using three fistulated steers of Ethiopian zebu breed and incubation periods of 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. The degradability of enset lamina at 48 h was better than that of straw and banana leaf and similar to that of stover and Chloris gayana hay. The other parts of the enset plant had even higher degradability than green C. gayana, setaria grass, elephant grass and guatemala grass. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.