Author : Flores, Edgar D.; Dela Cruz, Renita SM.; Antolin, Ma. Cecilia R.; Aninipot, Gerbert F.; Estimada, Marvin S.; Neric Jr., Cesar F.

Summary : Huge amount of sweet potato vines (SPV) are commonly discarded and burned in the field after harvesting of sweet potato roots. As technological intervention, the viability of converting SPV into silage was assessed. SPV were processed into silage and used as feed material for cattle and swine. The weight gain of the animals fed with SPV silage was compared with the animals fed with existing feed materials. The financial benefits accruing to the use of ensiled SPV for growing livestock and SPV ensiling system’s service provider were assessed. Environmental performance such greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of converting SPV into silage was determined and compared with the GHG emissions of open burning of SPV in the field. The use of 50% of SPV silage in the feed ration improved the weight gain performance of cattle and swine. The ensiling of SPV showed favorable financial results from the point of view of silage processors and on the part of livestock raisers. The conversion of at least 50% of SPV into silage would conservatively generate a total value of money at Php191,379,879.36 and mitigate 13,039,957 kgCO2eq per cropping season of sweet potato production in the province of Tarlac alone. The ensiling of SPV can reduce more than 16 times the amount of GHG emission of open burning of SPV in the field. This confirmed its potential as technology intervention for improving the environmental performance of sweet potato production. The ensiling system developed in this project can be served as practical guide for project planners and technology users/adoptors.