A ten-week Indonesian trial in 20 growing female Etawa-cross goats found that a diet containing 50% fresh leucaena, 40% concentrate and 10% chaya forage meal produced the best weight gain and feed efficiency among four diets. It supports local-feed substitution, but the small study does not establish equivalent performance in Thai production systems.
Key findings
- Compared with leucaena alone, diets P1-P3 reduced dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ether extract and crude-fibre intake but increased nitrogen-free-extract intake (all p
Why this matters globally
If confirmed at larger scale, chaya as a locally available forage ingredient could lower costs and improve feed-system resilience for smallholders without requiring total replacement of concentrate.
Thai researcher contribution
Chalermpon Yuangklang of Rajamangala University of Technology Isan, also affiliated with Universitas Brawijaya, contributed through an international collaboration. The animals and production setting were Indonesian, so the results are not observations from Thai farms.
Limitations to consider
There were only five goats per treatment, followed for ten weeks, all female Etawa crosses. The study cannot resolve long-term health, reproduction, real-world costs, seasonal effects or other breeds. The combination of reduced intake with improved gain also warrants examination of diet composition and digestibility details in the full paper.
Verify the original sources
Translational Animal ScienceRead the original article↗DOI: 10.1093/tas/txag095