Profil Produksi Hijauan Rumput Gajah (Pennisetum purpureum) di Universitas Jember Kampus Bondowoso

Abstract

Forage is the main feed consumed by livestock. Availability and production of good quality forage is needed for basic living needs and livestock production. The dominant type of grass in the livestock study program's stables is elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum). Elephant Grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is one of the superior grass varieties in the provision of forage because this grass is heat resistant and contains high nutrients. This research was conducted for 2 months. Samples were taken from several points where elephant grass was located at the University of Jember, Bondowoso Campus. Jember University Bondowoso campus is campus 2 of Jember University which is in Bondowoso, East Java Province. The campus here has several study programs, one of which is the Animal Husbandry Study Program, Faculty of Agriculture. The Animal Husbandry Study Program has a large area of land that is used for building livestock pens and forage land for livestock. The forage land is planted with various varieties of forage plants, one of which is elephant grass. The purpose of this study was to determine the production profile of elephant grass as a superior grass in the Animal Husbandry Study Program, University of Jember, Bondowoso Campus. The method used in this study used a completely randomized design (CRD) with 3 treatments and 5 replications for each treatment, with a total of 15 cutting treatment units, namely 40 days, 50 days, and 60 days. Analysis of the results of the research data used ANOVA diversity, then a further test was carried out using the DMRT to determine the effect between treatments. Parameters observed in this study were characteristic profiles (plant height, number of leaves, leaf height, leaf width, number of tillers), plant fresh production, and livestock carrying capacity. The results showed that the cutting age which showed the best production profile was 60 days cutting age. Elephant grass production on livestock study program land during the rainy season at 40 days of cutting age was 8.38 tons/ha, 13.81 tons/ha at 50 days and 14.58 tons/ha at 60 days and the capacity of elephant grass on the land Animal Husbandry study program, Jember University, Bondowoso Campus, namely 24.30 ST and livestock population of 17.025 Livestock Units (ST). The remaining livestock capacity to increase the livestock population is 7.275 ST. Calculation of livestock holding capacity in livestock businesses that have an average of above 10 ST can be increased from small-scale farmers to large-scale.