CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF WEEDS AS POTENTIAL FORAGE IN INTEGRATED FARMING

The purpose of this study is to determine the chemical composition of weeds in an oil palm plantation aged 8 and 10 years with the aim of assessing their potential as forage for beef cattle. Data collection was conducted in a cattle-oil palm integrated farming in FELCRA Batu 3? Paloh, Johor, in two different years, 2016 and 2018, when the plantation was 6 and 8 years old, respectively. Both samplings (October 2016 and August 2018) were obtained from the same plot Each sampling was from ten randomly picked points using a quadrant size of 0.5 m ? 0.5 m. The results showed three dominant weeds growing on oil palm plantations in 2016: Paspalum conjugatum (buffalo grass), Asystasia gangetica (Asystasia grass) and Axonopus compressus (carpet grass). In 2018, there were two dominant weed species found during the sampling process: Ottochloa nodosa (slender panic grass or rumput pait in Malay) and Asystasia gangetica (Asystasia grass). Determination of chemical composition showed that average crude protein increased from 19.0% at aged 8 years to 21.9% at aged 10 years, while average crude fibre decreased from 24.4% at the aged 8 years to 23.4% at aged 10 years. Naturally, weeds in oil palm plantations showed is a good potential source of forage for beef cattle.