Potential of sago hampas for ruminants feed

Abstract

Indonesia has the biggest sago palm forest and cultivation as well as its rich of genetic diversities. Sago planting area in Indonesia has a land area more than 5.5 million hectare (85% of world’s sago land area). Currently, the use of sago only focuses on the starch contained in it. Sago hampas is starchy lignocellulosic by-product generated from pith of sago palm after starch extraction. Sago hampas in Indonesia is very abundant, cheaply and not used optimally. Due to its fiber and starch content, sago hampas could be utilized as animal feed especially for ruminants. Sago hampas are limited in their use in making ruminants feed, because it has a high crude fiber and low protein content. Therefore, before the sago hampas is given as ruminant feed, the quality of sago hampas needs to be improve by processing technology. One method of processing sago hampas that can be applied is fermentation. The present study showed that of the utilization of sago hampas had a positive effect on ruminants performance. This review aims to examine the potential of sago hampas as basal feed ruminant as well as efforts to improve their nutritional value.