Katuk Leaves as Potential Animal Feed Supplementation 

It has been known that dairy cattle in developing countries often have lower milk yields and shorter lactations. Climate (high ambient temperature, humidity), low-quality feed, low levels of concentrate supplementation, the low genetic potential for milk production of multi-purpose animals (in addition to milk and meat, these cattle also often provide draught power), and high incidence of disease are some of the factors resulting in poor animal performance. 

There is a gap between available and required animal feeds in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Ruminants in those countries are often fed lignified forages and crop residues low in available energy and nitrogen.

It is essential to evaluate the nutritional value of the available feed resources as these could play a key role in the health and productivity of livestock. 

The productivity of ruminants depends on adequate nutrition concerning the composition and quality of feedstuffs, which is mainly reflected in voluntary intake and digestibility. Evaluation is also critical from an environmental perspective. The reason is that the excretion of undigested feed nutrients and the emission of gases affects the environment.

1. Katuk plant physiology and importance of Katuk leaves in human nutrition

Sauropus androgynus (L.) Merr. (Katuk leaf) is a perennial shrub found growing wild in South East Asia and widely cultivated in Indonesia and Malaysia. Katuk, a plant species of the Euphorbiaceae family, is rich in fatty acids, flavonoids, and polyphenols as the main bioactive constituents and is commonly utilized as a medicinal herb in the treatment of diabetes, cancer, inflammation, microbial infection, ulcers, obesity, and allergies. However, it is not recommended to consume excessive amounts of freshly uncooked Katuk leaves over time because it could be associated with bronchiolitis obliterans disease. Consumption of extract of Katuk leaves is considered to increase milk production in human mothers during lactation up to 50.7 g/100 g.

2. Nutritive value of Katuk leaves

A study from Nurdianti et al. (2023) reported that Katuk leaves had:

• 911 g/kg of dry matter (DM), 
• 333 g/kg DM of crude protein concentration, 
• 111 g/kg DM of crude ash, 
• 24.5 g/kg DM of crude fat, 
• 200 g/kg DM of fiber concentration, 
• 11.9 g/kg DM of lignin concentration

Katuk leaves had high CP and non-fiber carbohydrate concentrations (333 and 332 g/kg dry matter; DM, respectively), but low, neutral detergent fiber assayed with heat, a stable amylase and expressed exclusive of residual ash (aNDFom; 200 g/kg DM). Fiber digestibility linearly increased with increasing Katuk leaves supplementation in low-quality hay diets. 

A study reported that the Katuk leaves contain substances such as sterols, resins, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides, phenols, and catechols. Previous studies reported that Katuk leaves contain 88.7 mg of tannins and 580 mg alkaloid papaverine per 100 g DM of Katuk leaves, as well as 11.5 mg gallic acid equivalents of total phenolics and 10.4 mg rutin equivalents of total flavonoids per gram db. 

In low-quality hay diets, gas production after 24 h incubation linearly increased with increasing of Katuk leaves supplementation. Meanwhile, gas production after 24 h incubation linearly decreased with increasing of Katuk leaves supplementation in medium- and high-quality hays.

3. Katuk leaves as a potential animal feed supplementation

Another study reported that giving the Katuk leaf extracts in powder form can increase milk production in ewes. Katuk leaves inclusion (with or without Zn bio complex) in a concentrated diet of late pregnant Ettawah could improve the milk production and birth weight of the kid during the kidding period. Therefore, supplementing Katuk leaves in the diet might also increase the milk yield of ruminants. The addition of Katuk leaves could improve the crude protein concentration of feedstuffs. Based on the nutritive values, Katuk leaves had high crude protein concentration (333 g/kg DM) and were above the range of 110–130g/kg DM, which are adequate for the maintenance and growth of small ruminants (NRC, 2007) and even of dairy cattle for maintenance and lactation (119 g/kg DM of CP concentration; NRC, 2001), which makes it valuable as high-protein supplement particularly to low-protein forage diets. However, further studies (e.g. in vitro or in vivo) investigating other rumen parameters after incubation are required to validate the current observations.

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