Determining Nutritive Value of Cereal Crop Residues and Lentil (&amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Lens esculanta&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;) Straw for Ruminants

Eyob Haile,Goitom Asgedom,Francis K Njonge,Mathew Gicheha

doi:10.4236/ojas.2017.71003

Abstract

The chemical composition and in situ dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) degradability of seven different cereal crop residues were evaluated in this study. They included the Sorghum stovers (SS) and its threshed head residues (STH), millet stovers (MS) and its threshed head residues (MTH), corn stover (CS), wheat (WS) and barley (BS) straws. A legume crop residue (lentil, Lens esculanta, straw; LS) was included for comparison with the cereal crop residues. The CS was high (P crude protein (CP) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) and the lowest (P Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) when compared to the amounts in SS and MS. It was found out that LS had higher (P a, c fraction were highest (P the highest. The chemical composition and degradability of different crop residues found in Eritrea indicate the potential the residues have in supplementing grazing animals.

Highlights

The effective degradability (ED) of dry matter (DM) and Organic Matter Degradability (OMD) values were higher for legume residue than in the cereal crop residues
Similar trend was observed in the values of parameters a, b, (a + b) and c which were generally high for the legume than cereal crop residues
The legume residue in situ DM and organic matter (OM) degradability value was higher than all cereal crop residues except the DM and OM in MTH after 24 and 72 h respectively

Summary

Introduction

A survey carried out in Eritrea indicated that the country produced up to 1.2 million tons of crop residues each year [12] which justified a study of their potential use in livestock production. Understanding the chemical and nutritive characteristics of the crop residues would aid in designing optimal utilization strategies at farm and/or national levels. These characteristics indicate the feeding value of the feedstuffs. A number of studies have suggested that degradation characteristics of these types of feeds in the rumen will provide a useful basis for the evaluation of their nutritive value [13] [14] [15]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion