For buffalo raisers, calves need to be protected, managed, and fed properly to grow economically at an optimum rate. However, calf morbidity and mortality still remain a challenge for small-scale farmers due to insufficient milk feeding, calf injuries, and diseases.

For buffalo raisers, calves need to be protected, managed, and fed properly to grow economically at an optimum rate. However, calf morbidity and mortality still remain a challenge for small-scale farmers due to insufficient milk feeding, calf injuries, and diseases.

In general, the low productivity of animals is attributed to poor nutrition resulting in poor birth weight of calf and sometimes abortion. This may be because farmers still practice the traditional way of feeding. Farmers spend more time feeding their animals by tethering in distant areas or by cutting forages far from their homes, which causes many farmers to reduce the animal holdings they keep or find new feed resources to maintain the health and nutritional requirements of their animals.

This can be mitigated through adopting hydroponic corn fodder as a supplement feed concentrate for calves’ diet, as it provides benefits in terms of growth and economic viability.

In a recent study conducted by the DA-PCC Production System and Nutrition Section (PSNS), they cited that hydroponic fodder production can be a viable alternative solution to the limited land area for forage production for ruminant raisers, as it requires less land to produce year-round good quality forages and there will be no need of long-term feed storage, no feed nutrient losses, low labor cost, and low cost of production (AgriFarming, 2014).

Hydroponics is the growing of plant without soil. The plant basically depends on a water-based nutrient-rich solution. This system fosters rapid growth, stronger yields, and superior quality. According to Woodard (2019), when a plant is grown in the soil, its roots are perpetually searching for the necessary nutrition to support the plant. If a plant’s root system is exposed directly to water and nutrition, the plant does not have to exert any energy in sustaining itself. The energy that the roots would have expended acquiring food and water can be redirected into the plant’s maturation. As a result, leaf growth flourishes, as does the blooming flowers and eventually, fruit.  

Researchers Charity Castillo, Reynaldo Amido, Victorino Mayo Jr., Cyril Baltazar and Arnel Del Barrio evaluated the effect of hydroponic corn fodder on the growth performance of 12 Bulgarian Murah buffalo calves. They used two treatments with 6 replications. Treatment 1 (T1) comprised of Napier grass and starter feed concentrates while Treatment 2 (T2) comprised of Napier, starter feed concentrate and hydroponic corn fodder. The hydroponic corn fodder in T2 was used as partial replacement of starter feed concentrate by 50%.

Results of the study show that buffalo calves fed with hydroponic corn fodder in diet had heavier weights and gained higher ADG (average daily gain). The initial weights of the buffalo calves were 88.17 kg for T1 and 86.17 kg for T2. The average body weights at the end of the feeding trial were 135kg and 144.50kg with total body weight gains of 47.42 kg and 58.33 kg for T1 and T2, respectively.

Since the total body weight gain was higher in T2 than T1, the cost per kg gain in T2 was lower than T1. This means that hydroponics corn fodder can effectively substitute up to 50 percent of the concentrate feed without compromising the growth performance of the calves. The study then concluded that the difference was equally economically justifiable, as it requires a small area for the production and is suitable for regions where forage production is limited.

For nutrient digestibility, results show a higher Dry Matter intake of calves’ diet added with hydroponic corn sprout but without any significant changes in Crude Protein intake.

The findings are consistent with the study by Naik (2014), which concluded that feeding of hydroponic maize fodder to lactating cows increased the digestibility of nutrients and milk production leading to an increase in net profit. A typical cost of production cost includes seed, water, and electricity and while sprouts cannot replace 100% of an animal’s diet, they have been scientifically proven to increase the digestibility of other feeds.

The study further recommends the installation of greenhouse hydroponic technology to produce high-quality corn sprouts. Other species of grains and pulses like sorghum, mungbean, and the likes must also be evaluated for potential use as fodder in supplementing the nutritional requirement of not only calves but also growing and lactating ruminants.

"The study also found out that hydroponic corn fodder is highly palatable and nutritious to livestock particularly for newly weaned calves, as it is tender and can be eaten as a whole including the roots, ungerminated seeds, and grass."