Chemical Composition, Digestibility of Crude Fiber and Gross Energy, and Metabolizable Energy of Whole Paddy Rice of Momiroman

Abstract

The experiment was carried out to determine the chemical composition, digestibility of crude fiber (CF), gross energy (GE), and metabolizable energy (ME) of Momiroman paddy rice (PR) (Momiroman is a kind of feed rice cultivar). The chemical composition of PR was 5.11% crude protein (CP), 1.83% ether extract, 68.04% nitrogen-free extract and 10.54% CF on air dry basis. The GE of PR (3.77 kcal/g) is close to that of corn. Although the value of CP was low and that of CF was high, this GE value suggests that PR can probably be used as a feasible alternative grain source in poultry diets. Eight 15-wk-old male Cochin layer chickens (weighing 2.5 kg) housed in individual cages were used to determine the true digestibility (TD) and ME. The TD of CF and GE were 38.65% and 80.35%, respectively. Apparent ME and true ME were 2.79 and 3.02 kcal/g on air dry basis, respectively. The apparent ME values of PR was slightly lower than that of corn in chickens. The present results would provide new information for poultry diet formulations and suggest that PR can probably be used as a good alternative cereal grain source in poultry diets, and can replace corn.