One of Indonesia’s most promising goods is cows. According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Directorate General of Livestock and Animal Health (Ditjen PKH), Indonesia will produce 437,783.23 tons of beef in 2021. This number is 3.44 percent lower than what it was in 2020, when it was 453,418.44 tons. But people aren’t eating as much meat as the country is making more beef.
One reason for the drop in production is sexual behavior. In this case, the infertility of cows, such as low libido and poor quality sperm, causes delays in conception and makes the breeding season last longer. This causes economic losses and threatens the future of the livestock business.
So, the country needs to work on increasing beef production. One way to do this is by giving cows feed made from Moringa leaves, which are high in nutrients and improve their libido and sperm quality. As was done by Hasanuddin University (Unhas) Animal Husbandry Doctoral Student Nursyam Andi Syarifuddin in his 2018 dissertation, “Utilization of Moringa Leaves (Moringa oleifera) to Increase Libido and Semen Quality of Bali Cow Bulls.”
In an interview with Wardah Athirah of the Identitas Unhas Reporter, he said that when he first started his research, Prof. Dr. Ir Abdul Latief Tollen Msc. gave him a challenge. From the conversations they had together, he told them that a doctor must do something new that has an effect on society. “Well, it just so happens that in my village in Soppeng, there are a lot of Moringa plants that are widely used but not much for livestock. I also remember Prof. Latif’s research on Moringa, but the difference is it’s for female cows,” said Nursyam.
In past studies, Moringa leaves were used to increase the number of cows that got pregnant, which was the main goal. But the same things that affect pregnancy in female cows also affect pregnancy in bulls, especially the quality of the semen or sperm. So, he tried to come up with something new by feeding Bali male cattle Moringa.
“Moringa leaves have been around for thousands of years, but people haven’t used them much. In the 1990s, a French scientist named Lowel Kubli published the results of his research, which showed that Moringa leaves are high in nutrients and easy to use,” he said.
Moringa is called the “miracle tree” because of how healthy it is. It has a lot of vitamins and minerals, especially a lot of zinc, which helps increase libido, sperm volume, viscosity, movement, and quality in Bali cattle. Moringa is used as medicine for people. For example, India has a Vedic water treatment made from Moringa leaves that can treat a lot of different diseases. Moringa farming isn’t something most people do, so he used moringa that grows in the wild for his research.
“The process starts with making the feed, because that’s what research is based on. Also, the treatment has to be the same for everyone, so I use young Moringa leaves. First, when you take leaves, you don’t have to do anything special. Just take the whole leaf and leave three leaves from the top and bottom because the shoot area is old and has low water content, he said.
After that, the stalks and leaves are separated and dried in the room. This process of drying shouldn’t be done in the sun because it could damage some of the vitamins in the leaves, which bulls eat. “But Moringa can be used in its fresh form. Even in some places, like Nusa Tenggara, it was used directly as feed for all kinds of animals,” Nursyam said.
Nursyam’s research showed that when male Bali cattle ate up to 1.50 grams of Moringa leaves per kilogram, their libido, sperm viscosity, mass movement, motility, and sperm characteristics all got better. This led to more mating.
He hopes that the community will still be able to use this Moringa as feed, either dry or fresh, or as Urea Molasses Multinutrient Block (UMMB), which is extra feed or a very good supplement for livestock that is fed to livestock as candy. Farmers call it “goat candy” because animals lick it like candy to eat it. Nursyam is still working on UMMB at the moment.
Original Writer: Wardah Athira
Translator: Corvi Dipda S.
