Transforming Oil Palm Plantation for Forage and Livestock Integration
Kamil Azmi Tohiran*, Raja Zulkifli Raja Omar*, Norkaspi Khasim*, Md Zainal Rasyidi Mat Rodi*, Noor Khairani Muhamad Basri* and Wahid Omar*Transforming the oil palm plantation for forage and livestock integration is a revolutionary approach to optimise land productivity. It will create synergy between forage and livestock integrated in the same piece of oil palm land. The objective of this article is to highlight the various steps required to enable planting of forage crop and intensive livestock production in an oil palm plantation. The crop integration activity can best be extended to mature oil palm areas if the oil palm has been planted with the double avenue planting system. Several forage crops were tested, and they included Napier grass, forage sorghum and kenaf. Detailed guidelines for each crop, such as planting, maintenance, harvesting, processing and the nutrient values are provided in this report. Intensive livestock integration is the important component to complement the forage crop project. This is because the planting of improved pasture types has made it possible to increase the stocking rate of livestock for integration. Intensive practices of integration of cattle and goat have been used successfully to demonstrate the potential of the suggested production system. The technical performances of forage crops and intensive livestock integration are also discussed. Systematic approach of forage crop and livestock integration has indeed shown the potential of reducing the meat importation and to move towards reaching self-sufficiency.
Transformasi ladang sawit bagi tujuan integrasi foraj dan ternakan merupakan pendekatan revolusionari bagi mengoptimumkan produktiviti tanah. Ini akan mewujudkan sinergi di antara integrasi foraj dan ternakan dalam sebidang tanah sawit yang sama. Objektif artikel ini adalah untuk mengetengahkan langkah untuk melaksanakan penanaman foraj dan produksi ternakan secara intensif di ladang sawit. Aktiviti integrasi tanaman dapat dilanjutkan sehingga sawit mencapai usia matang jika sawit ditanam menggunakan sistem dua baris kembar. Beberapa jenis foraj telah dikaji termasuklah rumput Napier, sekoi jenis foraj dan kenaf. Garis panduan terperinci bagi setiap tanaman termasuk kaedah penanaman, pemeliharaan, penuaian, pemprosesan dan nilai nutrisi turut disertakan. Integrasi ternakan secara intensif adalah komponen penting bagi melengkapi projek tanaman foraj ini. Ini kerana kadar stok ternakan yang diintegrasikan dapat ditingkatkan hanya dengan penanaman pastura berkualiti sahaja. Amalan secara intensif integrasi lembu dan kambing telah berjaya digunakan bagi menunjukkan potensi sistem pengeluaran yang telah disyorkan. Prestasi teknikal tanaman foraj dan integrasi ternakan secara intensif juga dibincangkan. Pendekatan secara sistematik integrasi foraj dan ternakan telah menunjukkan potensi bagi membantu mengurangkan pengimportan daging dan mencapai kadar sara diri yang dikehendaki.
Tags: goat integration, cattle integration, crop integration, double avenue planting, oil palm plantation, Napier, sorghum, kenaf
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