Analisis Kadar Air dan Protein Kasar pada Brachiaria ruziziensis di Loka Pengujian Standar Instrumen Ruminansia Kecil

Abstract

Water and crude protein content analysis has been carried out on Brachiaria ruziziensis at the Small Ruminant Instrument Standard Testing Workshop. Feeding livestock needs to be paid attention to because the main factor in the development of livestock is the feed they eat. It is also important to remove the water content in the feed ingredients before analysis, so as not to affect the final results obtained. Protein is one of the ingredients needed to help the growth process in livestock. It is important to know the content of a feed ingredient before giving it to livestock. This research aims to determine the water and crude protein content found in Brachiaria ruziziensis grass. The methods used in this research are the gravimetric method and the Kjeldahl method. The working principle of the gravimetric method in water content analysis is that it involves measuring the weight of the sample before and after the water removal process. Then the Kjeldahl method consists of three stages, namely destruction, distillation and titration. In the digestion stage, the organic nitrogen content in the sample is converted into ammonia using sulfuric acid and a catalyst through a heating process. Then in the distillation stage, the resulting ammonia will be evaporated by heating and captured in a standard acid solution. Next, in the titration stage, the captured ammonia is measured by titration using a standard acid solution. The results of this titration provide nitrogen levels in the sample, which can then be used to calculate protein or nitrogen levels in the sample. The total water content results obtained in Brachiaria ruziziensis grass were 32.7103%, and the crude protein content results obtained in Brachiaria ruziziensis grass were 8.38%.