Oil Palm Waste-Based Cattle Feed Technology

The development of oil palm plantations in the Bangka Belitung Islands has an increasing trend from year to year, where people's oil palm plantations in 2010 were recorded at 44 thousand hectares (BPS, 2011) with a total FFB production of 52 thousand tons, in 2016 grew to 64.13 thousand hectares with FFB production of 120.22 thousand tons (BPS, 2017). This oil palm plantation has abundant biomass potential as a source of animal feed, including oil palm fronds and forage under oil palm plants. 

In addition, there are also 42 palm oil processing companies in the Bangka Belitung Islands that support feed from the by-products of the palm oil industry in the form of palm sludge  (solid decanter) ,  palm kernel cake (palm kernel cake)  which can be used as raw material for animal feed.

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Comparison of nutrients for palm fronds, palm mud, palm kernel cake and weeds

On average, one hectare of oil palm land is planted with 130 trees, and each tree produces 22 fronds/year. Each midrib which weighs an average of 5 kg. One hectare of productive oil palm land can produce 9 tons of fresh midrib per year or the equivalent of 0.66 tons of dry matter per year. Meanwhile, one adult Bali cattle with a live weight of 250 kg requires 8.75 kg/day of dry matter.

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Palm sludge  (solid decanter)  is the most preferred palm oil waste by cattle among other palm oil wastes. Solid can be given to cattle in fresh form or fermented with other ingredients.

Palm kernel cake is a potential feed raw material as a protein source ranging from 18-22%. One of the disadvantages of palm kernel cake for use as raw material for animal feed is its relatively low palatability value due to its higher fiber content compared to other protein sources. Giving palm kernel cake is not recommended in its single form because it can interfere with the digestive organs of cows, but is recommended in conjunction with other feed ingredients.

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Oil Palm Waste-Based Cattle Feed Technology

This oil palm waste-based cattle feed technology has been applied in the Bangka Belitung Islands, including the Tunas Baru Farmer Group, Sungai Selan Village, the Hope Jaya Poktan, Lubuk Besar Village, and the Petaling Experimental Garden BPTP Kep. Bangka Belitung. Chopped palm fronds and leaves, then mixed with palm kernel cake, and rice bran obtained a body condition score of 3.21 Bali cattle (scale 1-5) in Selan River, Central Bangka Regency, Bali cattle daily weight gain was 0.45 kg/ day in KP Petaling, 0.42 kg/day in Lubuk Besar.