Adding Maja leaves (Crescentia cujete) to ruminant ration affects rumen fermentation characteristics, gas production and Levels of undegraded rumen protein

This study aims to analyze the effect of adding maja leaves to ruminant livestock rations on rumen fermentation characteristics, gas production, and undegraded rumen protein. The study was conducted in vitro using a completely randomized design with four treatments (maja leaf levels of 0, 10, 20, and 30 g/100 g of feed) with four replicates and analyzed using a One-Way ANOVA, followed by the Duncan test. The results indicated that adding maja leaves at 30 g/100 g with a tannin content of 2.38% had no significant effect on NH3 , pH, or partial VFA concentration. However, it significantly influenced gas production and undegraded rumen proteins. Gas production decreased with increasing levels of maja leaves in the ration. The highest level of undegraded rumen protein, 34.8%, was obtained by adding maja leaves at 20 g/100 g, while the lowest level was found in the ration treatment without any maja leaves. It was concluded that the recommended treatment was CC20, which involved adding maja leaves at 20 g/100 g in the ration. In this treatment, the percentage of undegraded proteins that had the potential to be bypassed was 34.8%, the highest among all treatments.