The present study was carried out from April to December 2011 at Hanoi University of Agriculture (now renamed into Vietnam National University of Agriculture) and a private cattle farm in Ha Tay province to evaluate possibility for use of sorghum foliage as feed for ruminants. In the laboratory, sorghum foliage was chopped (3-5 cm in length) by machine, mixed with additive substrates and then stored in jars (6 kg/jar). Triplicates of five fermentation treatments were set up, viz: only sorghum foliage, sorghum foliage and elephant grass, sorghum foliage and 3 percent rice bran, sorghum foliage with elephant grass and 3 percent rice bran, and sorghum foliage with green grains. In an on-farm trial, sorghum foliage was used in the diet to fatten Lai Sind beef cattle. Twenty cattle at 2022 months of age with an average bodyweight of 220 kg were randomly divided into 4 fattening groups to compare 4 different levels of sorghum foliage in the diet: 75 percent, 50 percent, 25 percent and 0 percent fresh matter of the basal diet. Concentrate feed was supplemented at 2.5 kglhead/day. Results show that sorghum foliage could be made silage easily with or without easily fermentable carbohydrates as well as other substrates. After three months, the quality of silage remained good (pH from 3.97 to 4.25 with low moulded proportion (2.31-2.52 percent). Silage making also reduced HCN content in the feed (4.24-5.62 mg/kg silage). Results of the fattening trial showed that the levels of sorghum foliage in the basal diet had no significant effect on AOG, although the AOG in groups using less or no sorghum foliage seemed to be higher than in that in the group using up to 75 percent sorghum foliage. However, using up to 75 percent sorghum foliage in the basal diet still gave relatively high AOG of fattening cattle (AOG: 800g; FCR: 8.25 kg OM/kg bodyweight gain).
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