REVIEW ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 34 (4) December 2022, p. 591-607

TREATED OIL PALM FROND AND ITS UTILISATION AS AN IMPROVED FEEDSTUFF FOR RUMINANTS – AN OVERVIEW

MOOKIAH SAMINATHAN1*; WAN NOORAIDA WAN MOHAMED1; ‘ABIDAH MD NOH1; NUR ATIKAH IBRAHIM1; MUHAMMAD AMIRUL FUAT1; SURIYA KUMARI RAMIAH2; ERIC LIM TEIK CHUNG3 and NOOR LIDA HABI MAT DIAN1

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2021.0041
Received: 12 May 2021   Accepted: 28 July 2021   Published Online: 14 October 2021
ABSTRACT

Oil palm frond (OPF) is a biomass residue from oil palm plantations that have received increasing interest for its promise as roughage resources to overcome limitations of ruminant feeding. However, the use of OPF for livestock productivity is limited by its high lignocellulosic content and low nutritional value. Various physical, chemical, biological and physico-chemical treatments have been used to improve the nutritional value of OPF. This review was conducted to study the treatment methods of OPF as a value-added feedstuff and emphasise the effects of treated OPF on in vitro ruminal fermentation and in vivo ruminant digestibility and growth performance. The biological treatment produced favourable outcomes in improving the nutritional value of OPF and was more cost-effective, safe, and environmental-friendly compared to chemical and physical treatments. In vitro rumen fermentation studies on the potential use of treated OPF as feedstuffs for ruminants have been widely reported. Several in vivo studies have found that ruminants performed satisfactorily when fed diets with treated OPF at appropriate ratios. Nevertheless, chemically treated OPF has been successfully used in both beef and dairy cattle feeding trials as it is a good source of protein and has positive impacts on ruminal fermentation and animal production.

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1 Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

2 Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security,
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

3 Department of Animal Science,
Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: saminathan@mpob.gov.my