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ABSTRACT


Background and Objective Distillation of the Citronella plant Cymbopogon nardus L. produces essential oils and waste biomass. A preliminary study is needed to explore the relationship between Citronella waste biomass feeding and milk quality. The milk quality from the cows fed with Citronella waste biomass as an alternative forage was assessed in this study. Materials and Methods A total of 10 Friesian Holstein FH cows were fed with 40 kgheadday of solid Citronella distillation waste biomass at 8 am 20 kgheadday and 5 pm 20 kgheadday for 10 days. The Citronella replaces elephant grass Pennisetum purpureum as a source of forage. The milk samples were taken compositely on all treated cows and tested for physical quality, proximate analysis, heavy metals and microbial contamination. The analysis results were compared with the raw milk quality of the Indonesian National StandardStandar Nasional Indonesia SNI and other standards from different countries. Results The results showed that the physical characteristics of milk met the SNI. The protein, fat and lactose contents were 3.16 SNI 2.8, 5.38 SNI 3.0 and 4.63, respectively. Heavy metal testing showed no mercury Hg and arsenic As, while lead Pb was 0.01 g mL1501 below SNI 0.02 g mL1501. In addition, no microbial contamination was detected for Staphylococcus aureus and Enterobacteriaceae. Conclusion These findings convinced us that Citronella waste could be used as an alternative forage in dairy cattle and produce good quality milk. Further research on the milk quality comparison between Citronella waste feeding and other forage feeding was suggested.

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