Home⇛International Journal of Multidisciplinary: Applied Business and Education Research⇛vol. 6 no. 9 (2025)

Chemical Analysis of Local Guinea Grass (Megathyrsus maximus Jacq.) and Mombasa Grass (Megathyrsus maximus Jacq cv. Mombasa) Harvested at 30- and 45-day Cutting Intervals as Forage Grass for Ruminants in Leyte, Philippines

Angelo Francis F. Atole | Jade Dhapnee Z. Compendio | Oscar B . Posas | Lijueraj J. Cuadra | Manuel Gacutan Jr.

Discipline: agricultural sciences

 

Abstract:

The study was conducted to compare the proximate analysis of the Guinea grass (Megathyrsus maximus Jacq.) cultivars (i.e., Local Guinea grass; LG, Mombasa grass; MG) harvested at either 30- or 45-day cutting intervals (CI) in Leyte, Philippines. The Guinea grass cultivars were planted in four plots; at 65 days, all grasses were manually harvested by zeroing. Succeeding harvests followed ei-ther at 30- or 45-day CI for six months. The treatment combina-tions were as follows: LG30 (LG, 30-day CI), LG45 (LG, 45-day CI), MG30 (MG, 30-day CI), and MG45 (MG, 45-day CI). LG has signifi-cantly higher dry matter (DM; except 4th harvest), OM, and GE con-tents (3rd and 4th harvests) than MG. In contrast, MG has signifi-cantly higher CP (3rd harvest) and ash (except 3rd harvest) contents than LG. Between CI, Guinea grass cultivars harvested at 45-CI have significantly higher DM, ash (2nd harvest), and OM contents than those harvested at a 30-day CI. In contrast, Guinea grass cultivars harvested at 30-day CI have significantly higher CP (3rd harvest) and EE contents (interaction effect at 4th harvest) than those har-vested at 45-day CI. MG can be offered for ruminants requiring high CP and ash contents on a grass-based diet, especially when har-vested at a 30-day CI. LG can be offered to ruminants requiring a low plane of nutrition.



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