Enriched camote pulp good as broiler feed

From agricultural waste and pollutant to feed of broilers.

Through research, sweet potato pulp (SPP or pinagbalatan ng kamote) has been found by agricultural scientists of the Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA) in Camiling, Tarlac, as a good feed for young chickens.

All one has to do is enrich it with protein, according to Drs. Rodolfo Demo-os, Maria Teresa SJ Valdez, and Mariano Mapili Jr. They conducted a study titled "Protein Enrichment of Sweet Potato Pulp for Broiler Feeds" funded by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR).

Dr. Demo-os presented the results of their experiments at the Second Agriculture and Fisheries Technology Forum held at the DA-BAR in Diliman, Quezon City, last Aug. 8 to12. The forum marked the observance of DA-BAR’s 18th anniversary.

The study was inspired by a research done by Dr. C.B. Pham of UP Los Baños, who pioneered the development of a technology on protein enrichment of cassava and cassava by-products, banana peelings, and other agricultural wastes for use as animal feed.

In the TCA study, substrate of SPP (which is low in digestible nutrients) was sterilized, cooled, and inoculated with a specific fungal culture.

Based on a series of laboratory trials, analyses, and test feedings, it was found that protein-enriched sweet potato pulp (PESPP) is cheap and of high nutritive value, making it suitable as feed for broilers.

Using PESPP at 10 percent inclusion rate in broiler rations elicited comparable biological responses in birds as those in pure commercial rations, the researchers noted. However, inclusion of 15 percent PESPP in rations proved more advantageous to broiler growth and feed conversion efficiency.

With PESPP’s use, considerable amount of savings on cost of feeds is also realized, making broiler production more cost-efficient. Moreover, an average of 42.6 percent return on investment may be achieved.

The materials are also cheap and readily available at the village level. The fungi used in fermenting the SPP substrate can easily be propagated.

The TCA researchers said the technology may be adopted in areas where starch processing plants exist, not only for sweet potato but also for cassava and taro (gabi).

Further, the technology is applicable to pineapple pulp, sugarcane bagasse, bran, cobs, husks, and banana peeling, as well as weevil-infested and nonmarketable root crops.

Lastly, technology users include farmers, poultry and swine raisers, feed millers, farmers’ cooperatives producing and marketing feeds, and inland aquaculturists. – Rudy A. Fernandez

Banaba tea in bottle, bag

MAGALANG, Pampanga – Banaba tea in bottles. And in tea bag, too.

This is among the newest products developed by the Pampanga Agricultural College (PAC) here to boost agricultural development in the country.

Aptly named Obantea (short for organic banaba tea), the health drink is prepared from fresh and organically grown banaba leaves from the state college’s five-hectare banaba plantation in this town at the foot of storied Mt. Arayat.

Earlier scientific studies have indicated that banaba has an insulin-like property, known as corosolic acid, which can lower the blood sugar of people suffering from diabetes mellitus.

The project began with the establishment of a banaba plantation on the PAC campus in 2000. The project was undertaken by PAC headed by Dr. Zosimo M. Battad (president) in collaboration with Use-Techno, a private Japanese firm.

Use-Techno buys the air-dried banaba leaves, PAC research director Roy Kempis told this writer in an interview here recently.

Involved in the PAC banaba project are Dr. Rolando Baccay, Darwin Totaan, Oscar Tarun, and Menrado Gatan.

Kempis said PAC began bottling the "no preservative, all natural" health drink in 2004.

The product was launched in the August 2004 Research and Development (R&D) Symposium of the Central Luzon Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (CLARRDEC) held at the DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

Outlets of the product have been gradually growing.

With many people becoming more health-conscious, organic banaba tea is expected to become more appreciated and patronized. – RAF

Income from gmelina tree plantation can be tripled

A technology that can triple a tree grower’s income from gmelina plantation has been developed.

Credit for the development of the "coppicing gmelina technology" goes to the Los Baños-based Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (DENR-ERDB).

The technology is a cost-saving technique that can considerably increase the income of gmelina growers and result in bigger trees that can sequester (capture) a higher amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Coppicing is the cutting of trees and shrubs at the base to allow vigorous regrowth and a sustainable supply of timber for future generations.

Not all trees are suitable for coppicing, pointed out ERDB. Gmelina, however, showed positive response to the technique.

"Gmelina plantation owners used to spend money to eliminate regrowths before replanting. With coppicing, they can save costs for these activities since new trees will be allowed to grow from the regrowths," explained ERDB Director Celso P. Diaz.

Dr. Enriqueta Perino, project leader of the research on coppicing of gmelina, also said: "One month after cutting the trees, the gmelina stumps can produce several coppices. Proper thinning of coppices is the key to this technology."

For timber production, however, only the biggest, most straight, vigorous and defect-free stem should be left growing among the rest of the coppices to attain big stem diameter, Perino advised.

She also averred: "The coppiced tree can capture a higher amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere since they grow faster and accumulate higher biomass which stores carbon, thus making the environment cooler." – RAF