Nutritive Value Of Vetiver Grass Silage Supplement With Some Silage Additive
Varunee Panichpol, Chit Yoothavorawit and Sompon Waipanya
Division of Animal Nutrition, Department of Livestock Development, THAILAND.
To improve the nutritive value of Vetiver grass, cv. Ratchaburi using a 30 day cutting
interval, was ensiled by adding 0.5% urea (Treatment 2), 10% molasses (Treatment 3), 1 5%
mixed ground cassava chip (Treatment 4), 0.5% urea + 10% molasses (Treatment 5), 0.5% urea
+ 1 5% mixed ground cassava chip (Treatment 6) and compared with untreated Vetiver grass
(Treatment 1 as Control). After 30 days, the result was that Treatment 3, 4 and 5 had good
quality in terms of palatability, pH, and percentages of dry matter, lactic acid, butyric
acid, nutritive value and dry matter digestibility. Treatment 6 was judged of fair quality
due to higher percentages of butyric acid. Treatment 1 and 2 were of poor quality.
Vetiver Grass (Vetiveria Nemoralis) As Substrate For Mushroom Cultivation.
Yongyuth Saifa, Prawit Taptimorn and Prapaisri Pitakpaivan. Applied Microbiology Group,
Plant Pathology and Microbiology Division, Department of Agriculture, Thailand.
Preliminary study on the cultivation of four different species of mushroom (Genus
Pleurotus) using dried vetiver grass (Vetiveria nemoralis) as substrate, was conducted
during March 1994 - January 1995 at Som Dej Pra Sri Nakarin Royal Garden, Huai Sai Royal
Development Center, Petchaburi Province. They are Pleurotus sp. Florida (Hed Hang Rom
Kao), Pleurotus sp. from Hungary (Hed Nang Rom Hungary), Pleurotus sp. (Hed Bhuthan), and
P. abalonus (Hed Pao Hu). Pasteurization and non-pasteurization methods were applied. Two
formulae of the first method used for substrate preparation were : Coarse ground vetiver
grass mixed with rice bran, sugar, magnesium sulphate (100 kg.: 4 kg.: 2 kg.: 0.2 kg.) and
water as needed (mic 60-65%) and cut vetiver grass composted with 7% with rice bran. These
mixture were bagged, pasteurized and spawned.
It was observed that the first formula produced higher yield in every species. The second
method was non pasteurization where cut soaked vetiver grass was bagged and spawned
simultaneously. Fruiting bodies were observed only on two mushroom species Plourotus sp.
Florida and Pleurotus sp. from Hungary.
Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides) Straw For The Cultivation Of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus
Spp)
A.S. Krishnamoorthy and S.Balasubramanyan. Regional Research Station Kovilangulam - 626
107 Tamilnadu, India
Possibility of utilizing vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides) grass for the cultivation of
Pleurotus euos (serk) Sacc., P. salmoneo - Stramineus L. Vass., P. citrinopileatus (Fr)
Singer, P. Sajorcaju (Fr) Singer: P. platypus (Cooke and masee) sacc., was explored. P.
euos, P.salmoneo - Stramineus and P. Platypus colonised the vetiver straw early (within 13
days) and yielded 355 to 405 g of mushroom/bed (Bio-efficiency ranged from 70 to 80 per
cent). Paddy straw and paddy straw + Vetiver grass (1:1 w/w) gave significantly higher
yields (437.1 and 434.7 g/bed respectively) than vetiver alone (385.9 g/bed).
Allelopathic Effects Of Vetiver Grass On Weeds
Sombun Techapinyawat, Khunying Suchada Sripen and Thiamjai Komkris, Botany Department,
Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Thailand.
Vetiver is a tropical perennial grass, widely distributed thoughout Thailand. Vetiver is
cultivated for erosion control as well as a sort of barrier to prevent the invasion of
weeds. Experiments were performed to investigate allopathic effects of vetiver grass on
weeds. Methanol extract of ground dried stems and roots of 3 vetiver ecotypes were tested
on 10 common weed species. It was found that root and stem extracts from 3 Vetiver
ecotypes: Ratchaburi, Suratthani and Indonesia strongly inhibited seed germination and
seedling growth of Amaranthus gracilis Desf., Abutilon hirtum Sweet, Pennisetum
polystachyon Schult, Melochia corchorifolia Linn. and Ruellia tuberosa Linn.. The degree
of inhibition depended on the vetiver ecotypes, concentration of the extracts, and weed
species dependent. The study also suggests the possibility of developing a natural
herbicide from vetiver grass which will leave hopefully little or no toxic residue harmful
to the environment.
Study On Compost Making From Vetiver Grass
Pluechaya Thunyadee et.aI. Land Development Department, Ministry of Agricultural and
Cooperatives, Bangkok, Thailand.
The studies on compost making from vetiver grass were carried out at 5 sites: namely
Ratchaburi, Srisaket, Chiang Mai Land Development Station, Khao Hin Sorn and Pikun Thong
Royal Development Study Centre. The design was observation trial with 4 treatments. The
treatments were
1) Making compost on the ground with LDI rhizobium and turn over.
2) Making compost in the hole with LDI rhizobium and turn over.
3) Making compost on the ground with high tech rhizobium.
4) Making compost in the hole with high tech rhizobium.
After 150 days the results showed that the ratio between carbon and nitrogen from
treatment 1 is the best, followed by treatment 2,4 and 3 with the ratio of 20, 23, 26 and
29 respectively. It also found that the chemical and physical properties of T1 is the best
followed by T2, T4 and T3. The pH value ranging between 6.9 - 7.2.