Rumen degradability characteristics of xylose treated canola and soybean meals

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effects of xylose treatments (5, 10 and 20 g/kg DM) of canola meal (CM) and soybean meal (SBM) on in situ rumen degradability characteristics in sheep. In the experiment, three ruminally cannulated mature Merino rams were used to measure in situ rumen degradability characteristics of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and crude protein (CP) of meal samples. CM and SBM were treated with xylose (5, 10 and 20 g/kg DM). Xylose treatment reduced maximum potential degradability values of DM, OM, CP for SBM but not for CM. Rumen effective protein degradability values of CM and SBM ( k=0.02, 0.05 and 0.08 h −1) were decreased by all treatments. Effective degradabilities of DM, OM, CP ( k=0.05 h −1) were 0.643, 0.628 and 0.772 for untreated canola meal (UCM) and 0.622, 0.608 and 0.546 for untreated soybean meal (USBM), respectively. Effective crude protein degradability values ( k=0.05 h −1) of CM treated with xylose (5, 10, and 20 g/kg DM) were 0.73, 0.67 and 0.60, respectively. Treatment of SBM with 5, 10 and 20 g/kg of DM caused a reduction in the effective crude protein degradability at the rate of 37, 48 and 65% compared with USBM, respectively. It was concluded that CM and SBM proteins can be effectively protected from degradation in the rumen by xylose treatment.