Raw Milk Assessment of Dairy Cows Fed with Citronella Distillation Waste Biomass

S. Sujianto, M.I. Shiddieqy, M. Rizal, S. Sukamto and A. Wahyudi

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 kg/head/day of solid Citronella distillation waste biomass at 8 am (20 kg/head/day) and 5 pm (20 kg/head/day) 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 Standard/Standar 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 mL^–1 below SNI (0.02 g mL^–1). 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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