Pearl millet is a valuable forage for ruminants, it is palatable and digestible. There are very few toxicological concerns with pearl millet even when grown under scarce conditions.
The table below sums up some nutritive characteristics (DM intake and digestibility) of green grass, hay and stover of regular and selected varieties of pearl millet fed to ruminants:
Material |
Animal |
Intake |
Digestibility |
References |
Green |
|
|
|
|
Normal green forage |
Sheep |
|
66.6% in vitro DMD |
Cherney et al., 1990a |
Brown mid-rib forage |
Sheep |
|
69.1% in vitro DMD |
Cherney et al., 1990a |
Hay |
|
|
|
|
Hay harvested at boot stage |
|
22 g OM/kg LW |
73.9% OMD |
Cherney et al., 1990b |
Brown mid-rib hay |
Sheep (44.4 kg) |
23 g DM/kg LW |
66.7% DMD |
Cherney et al., 1990a |
Normal |
Sheep (44.4 kg) |
23 g DM/kg LW |
64.4% DMD |
Cherney et al., 1990a |
Silage |
|
|
|
|
Pearl millet silage |
Sheep |
23.1 g DM /kg LW0.75 |
60% DMD |
Pinto et al., 1999 |
Stover and straw |
|
|
|
|
Stover (stalks+leaves), low fertilizer levels |
Bulls (262 kg) |
34.9-44.4 g OM/kg LW0.75 |
45.3-51.3% OMD |
Blümmel et al., 2003a |
Stover (stalks+leaves), high fertilizer levels |
Bulls (262 kg) |
41.3-49.3 g OM/kg LW0.75 |
40.1-48.1% OMD |
Blümmel et al., 2003a |
Stover |
Sheep (males, 20kg) |
36.9-59.6 g OM/kg LW0.75 |
47.7-60.1% OMD |
Alexander et al., 2007 |
Straw |
Sheep (27 kg) |
35 g DM/kg LW0.75 |
43.6% DMD |
Nantoumé et al., 2000 |
Stover leaves |
Sheep (40 kg) |
53.5 g DM/kg LW0.75 |
|
Fernandez Rivera et al., 1994 |
Dairy cows
Pasture
Pearl millet pasture is palatable to cows who prefer young leaves to older ones (Ball, 1903). It can sustain high stocking rates (4.7-6.7 cows/ha), medium to high milk yield (19.8 kg/day) and lower weight losses compared to sudangrass or sorghum x sudangrass hybrid over a three-year period (Clark et al., 1965). It can sustain 13 to 15 kg milk/day/cow without supplementation during the pre-dry season (Benedetti, 1999).
Pearl millet cultivated under a warm climate contained enough metabolizable protein to meet the needs of high yielding dairy cows (600 kg LW, 30 litres milk/day/cow) if they ate 11.6 kg DM/day. However, pearl millet forage may not meet the energy requirements of lactating dairy cows (Fulkerson et al., 2008). High yielding dairy cows grazing a mixed pasture of pearl millet forage and cowpea had higher intake and milk yield when they were supplemented, however the economic return was greater with no supplementation (Hanisch et al., 2005).
A significant depression of milk butterfat occurred in cows grazing pearl millet forage (see Potential constraints above) (Clark et al., 1965).
Silage
Pearl millet silage may be included at 50% (DM basis) in a lucerne silage/concentrate-based diet, or 36% (DM basis) of a concentrate-based diet, and sustain 24-26.3 kg/d milk yield in lactating dairy cows (Kochakpadee et al., 2002; Messman et al., 1991). Milk fat and protein content were 3.6% and 2.8% respectively (Kochakpadee et al., 2002). Pearl millet silage (38.5% DM, 15% CP) offered to 325 kg dairy heifers was eaten at 2.4% of body weight on DM basis and the DM digestibility was 64.3% (Jaster et al., 1985).
Growing and fattening cattle
Pasture
Weanling beef heifers reared on pearl millet pasture in a continuous grazing system had to be supplemented with a high-energy concentrate feed (corn grain or dried citrus pulp or soyhulls) at 0.9% of the body weight in order to support growth requirements and normal first mating at 18-24 months (Santos et al., 2005). In older beef heifers (15 months, 250 kg), providing pearl millet forage yielding 1125-1770 kg DM/ha over 3 months resulted in a 14-15 kg forage DM intake and sustained a growth rate of 800 g/d; an earlier mating age (18-20 months) was then possible (Montagner et al., 2009). Pearl millet pasture, either unfertilized or fertilized (0,150 or 300 N kg/ha) supported daily live-weight gains of 553 g (unfertilized) to 764 g/d (300 kg N/ha) in 13-14 month steers weighing 230 kg (Moojen et al., 1999).
Cut-and-carry system
In Mali, pearl millet green leaves are collected 65 to 85 days after sowing, before grain harvest, and are fed fresh to draught cattle. Earless tillers which bear no grains can be collected as early as 45-65 days after sowing; they provide early season fodder. Green leaves and earless tillers meet recommendations for crude protein and metabolizable energy for 300 kg beef cattle fed rice straw ad libitum (Tielkes et al., 1998).
Silage
Pearl millet silage fed to fattening steers at 84% (DM basis) plus 16% concentrate for 6 months resulted in decreasing average daily weight gain from 710 g/day for the first 2 months, 400 g/day during the next two months and 200 g/day during the last 2 months (Bolsen et al., 1980).
Pearl milllet silage did not compare favourably with maize silage: it resulted in lower DM intake (2.9 kg vs. 7 kg) and lower average daily weight gain (150-200 g/day vs. 950g/day) in growing heifers. Even when pearl millet silage was inoculated and supplemented with 0.5% ground maize, steers had a lower daily weight gain than with maize silage (770 g/day vs. 1220 g/day) (Hill et al., 1999).
Sheep
Pasture
Pearl millet is a valuable pasture for sheep. During a period of strong drought, pearl millet pasture was able to support higher stocking rates than regular or improved native grassland (914 kg LW/ha vs. 261 and 467 kg LW/ha respectively) and resulted in higher daily weight gains (151 g/d vs. 53 and 58g/d respectively) (Brum et al., 2008).
Pearl millet can be sown with Lablab purpureus, which provides crude protein supplementation. The association compares favourably with other grass/legume combinations and results in 120 g of daily weight gain in sheep grazing the stand (Aganga et al., 2000). Supplementing sheep fed on a pearl millet forage basal diet with crude protein sources such as cassava meal, corn gluten feed or with commercial concentrate results in greater animal performance:
- 133 g daily weight gain on pearl millet + corn gluten feed were observed, vs. 72 g daily weight gain on pearl millet alone (Jochims et al., 2010);
- 96 g daily weight gain on pearl millet + commercial concentrate (19.8% CP) vs. 54 g daily weight gain on pearl millet alone (Elejalde et al., 2010);
- 110-120 g daily weight gain on pearl millet + commercial concentrate (21.8% CP) (Camargo et al., 2009).
Recommended levels of supplementation range from 0.5% to 1.5% body weight (Jochims et al., 2010; Elejalde et al., 2010; Camargo et al., 2009). Daily weight gain is more sensitive to supplementation and positively correlated when pasture quality decreases (Camargo et al., 2009).
Silage
In sheep, pearl millet silage was not as readily eaten as stover (see Nutritional attributes above) but its digestibility was similar (Pinto et al., 1999). In order to increase crude protein content and cell wall digestibility, pearl millet can be ensiled with cowpea (Silveira et al., 1981). However, this mixture did not sustain animal requirements and some supplementation (in energy and protein) was needed (Singh et al., 1980).
Straw
Pearl millet straw can be fed to sheep. Urea treatment enhances its palatability and total digestible nutrients (Choudhary et al., 2004). Straw ammoniation (4%) is advisable as it enhances DM intake, crude protein and crude fibre digestibility by more than 10% in a pearl millet straw/concentrate-based diet (Ramana et al., 1989). Treating millet straw with a 5% urea solution increased DM digestibility by 23%, DM intake by 16% (from 42.6 to 49.2 g/kg W0.75) and average daily gain by 12% (from 41 to 51 g/kg) in Djallonké rams (Mattoni et al., 2007).
Goats
Pearl millet forage can be fed to goats. It results in similar DM, OM and NDF intakes as Sudan grass, elephant grass or forage sorghum. The crude protein intake and digestibility of pearl millet forage are higher than for other forages in goats (Aguiar et al., 2006). Pearl millet hay replaced clover hay without altering the reproduction of female goats and the performance of the kids (Hanafy et al., 2007).