Acceptability and nutritive evaluation of Pleurotus harvested spent wheat straw in buffaloes

Abstract

Eight adult male buffaloes were distributed randomly into two groups for comparative metabolism trials with Pleurotus (edible mushroom) harvested spent wheat straw (SWS) or wheat straw, with a concentrate mixture in both groups. The soft texture made the SWS, when fed alone, acceptable to the buffaloes. Compared with wheat straw, the SWS had low nutrients and high ash content. Although the daily dry matter (DM) intakes were similar under the two feeding regimens, the digestibility of nutrients was significantly lower, with low N retention, for SWS. The Digestible Crude Protein (DCP), Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) and Metabolizable Energy (ME) contents of SWS were 0·80%, 26·5% and 5·45 MJ kg −1, respectively. The high acceptability of SWS suggested that if the SWS rations are formulated on an apparent digestible organic matter basis it can be efficiently utilized by the animals.