Effects of fresh cassava tops on rumen environment parameters, thyroid gland hormones and liver enzymes of local yellow cattle fed urea-treated fresh rice straw.

In a 4 x 4 Latin square design study, four rumen-cannulated local yellow cattle, average weight 330 kg, were fed urea-treated fresh rice straw (UFRS) ad libitum and given 1 kg cassava root meal daily as basal diet in each 30-day trial period. Four treatment levels of crude protein of fresh cassava tops (FCT) were supplied: 0 (FCT0), 50 (FCT50), 100 (FCT100) and 150 g (FCT150) crude protein per 100 kg body weight. The results showed a continuous decrease in dry matter intake (DMI) of UFRS with increasing level of FCT supplementation (p<0.001). Total DMI for treatments FCT150, FCT100, FCT50 and FCT0 were 2.66, 2.42, 2.23 and 2.05 kg dry matter per 100 kg live weight per day, respectively. Increasing levels of FCT supplementation increased the concentration of total volatile fatty acids (p<0.05) and ammonia (p<0.001) and resulted in a decrease in pH (p<0.05). Rumen protozoa population varied widely but was significantly lower with increasing FCT supplementation (p<0.001), while rumen bacteria population was higher (p<0.05). Overall, average plasma triiodothyronine and thyroxine concentrations in the four groups were respectively 1.36, 0.94, 0.91, 0.80 ng/ml (p<0.01) and 60.9, 48.7, 45.2, 42.5 ng/ml (p<0.001). There were non-significant differences in alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase concentrations among the treatments.