Enhancing feed fermentation in rice straw basal diets using leaf protein concentrate as a novel ruminant supplement derived from Indigofera zollingeriana

Findings from this study confirm that <i>Indigofera</i> leaf protein concentrate offers a new alternative for enhancing rumen feed fermentation and the digestibility of low-quality rice straw diets. This study implies that it is an easy, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly approach, particularly beneficial for smallholders, to extract protein concentrate from fresh <i>Indigofera</i> leaves using distilled water and use it to enhance the quality of rice straw for ruminant feed. The limitation of this study is that the <i>Indigofera</i> supplement was established using <i>in vitro</i> digestibility under controlled laboratory conditions, which does not reflect real rumen conditions. Therefore, further studies using <i>in vivo</i> digestibility in ruminant animals are required to confirm the ability of the protein extracted from <i>indigofera</i> to enhance rumen feed fermentation in low-protein basal diets.