• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.1388-1393
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• 2000

The present study was conducted to examine the feasibility of utilising bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea) shoot shell (BSS) in ruminants. Chemical composition, rumen degradability and some antinutritional compounds were determined for fresh and boiled BSSs to evaluate its feed value and safety. Thirty-two Holstein heifers were allocated to four groups and used to investigate the response in growth rate to supplementing ammoniated rice straw with fresh shell (phase 1) or silage of boiled BSS (phase 2). All animals were offered ammoniated straw ad libitum with 1kg of cotton seed meal (phase 1) or 0.5 kg of cotton seed meal and 0.5 kg of concentrate mixture (phase 2) per head per day. The BSS was supplemented at levels of 0, 3, 6 or 9 kg/d (phase 1) and 0, 5, 10 or 15 kg/d (phase 2) (as fed basis). The BSS was very high in moisture content, and its contents of crude protein and neutral detergent fiber were 13~16% DM and 65~76% DM, respectively; boiling resulting in higher moisture and protein. No hydrocyanic acid was detected in both BSSs and content of tannins was negligible. Rumen degradability of BSS was reasonably high, and with boiling the rapidly degradable fraction decreased, and potentially degradable component increased. Silage of the boiled BSS was slightly lower in both rapidly and slowly degraded fractions than the fresh BSS. Animals consumed all supplemented BSSs without any adverse health problems. Intake of ammoniated straw decreased with the increasing levels of BSS, but total intake was higher in almost all supplementary groups than in the non-BSS. Heifers had a higher growth rate in phase 1 with fresh BSS than in phase 2 with ensiled shell, and daily weight gains were 622, 629, 744 or 690 g in phase 1, and 578, 575, 677 or 635 g in phase 2 at four BSS levels, respectively. For both phases growth rate was significantly higher for the animals in groups 3 and 4 than those in groups 1 and 2 (p<0.01), with little difference between groups 1 and 2 (p>0.05) but significant difference between groups 3 and 4 (p<0.05). Supplementation with BSS also resulted in an improved feed conversion rate, with the least concentrate consumption in group 3 for both phases. It is concluded that the BSS has a high potential nutritional value as indicated by its medium protein content, reasonably high rumen degradability, and that inclusion of BSS in ammoniated rice straw diet is not only safe to animals, but also may improve growth rate of ruminants and feed conversion rate. It may be disadvantageous to use high amounts of BSS in ammoniated straw diets.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.699-708
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• 2006

Ground rice, barley and corn were fed separately to the ruminally cannulated Hanwoo (Korean native cattle) for comparing their in situ and in vitro degradabilities, microbial growth, pH and gas production. It has been found that nearly all the dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) in barley and rice disappeared during 24 hr suspension in the rumen, but those in corn were only reduced by around 67%. Water soluble DM and OM fractions(‘a’), ranked from highest to lowest was corn, then rice and finally barley, but the order was reversed for content ‘b’, degradable fraction during time ‘t’. Judging by the degradation parameter of ‘b’ fraction, degradation rates per hour of DM and OM for barley were 38.3% and 37.2% respectively, significantly higher than those for rice (7.7% and 5.6%) and corn (4.1% and 1.3%). In general, results obtained from in vitro degradability of DM and OM were lower than those from in situ trials, but the ranking order of degradability was in agreement between both trials. In particular, ground rice has relatively lower in vitro microbial growth than corn or barley, but exhibited higher gas production. In addition, in vitro microbial growth of ground rice increased with up to 12 hr of incubation period, thereafter experienced a decrease with extended incubation time. pH of in vitro solution of rice decreased following 9 hr of incubation but gas production increased rapidly during the same period. From the results of DM and OM degradabilities and pH changes of in vitro solution with incubation time, it is concluded that rice represents a good source of energy for stability of rumen fermentation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.240-247
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• 2012

Dietary supplementation with conventional linted cottonseed hulls (LCSH) is a common practice in livestock production all over the world. However, supplementation with mechanically delinted cottonseed hulls (DCSH) and cottonseed linter residue (CLR) is uncommon. Cottonseed by-products, including LCSH, DCSH and CLR, were assessed by chemical analysis, an in situ nylon bag technique, an in vitro cumulative gas production technique and in vitro enzyme procedure. The crude protein (CP) content of CLR (302 g/kg dry matter (DM)) was approximately 3 times that of LCSH and 5 times that of DCSH. The crude fat content was approximately 3 times higher in CLR (269 g/kg DM) than in LCSH and 4 times higher than in DCSH. Neutral detergent fibre (311 g/kg DM) and acid detergent fibre (243 g/kg DM) contents of CLR were less than half those of DCSH or LCSH. Metabolisable energy, estimated by in vitro gas production and chemical analyses, ranked as follows: CLR (12.69 kJ/kg DM)>LCSH (7.32 kJ/kg DM)>DCSH (5.82 kJ/kg DM). The in situ degradation trial showed that the highest values of effective degradability of DM and CP were obtained for CLR (p<0.05). The in vitro disappearance of ruminal DM ranked as follows: CLR>LCSH>DCSH (p<0.05). The lowest digestibility was observed for DCSH with a two-step in vitro digestion procedure (p<0.05). The potential gas production in the batch cultures did not differ for any of the three cottonseed by-product feeds. The highest concentration of total volatile fatty acids was observed in CLR after a 72 h incubation (p<0.05). The molar portions of methane were similar between all three treatments, with an average gas production of 22% (molar). The CLR contained a higher level of CP than did LCSH and DCSH, and CLR fermentation produced more propionate. The DCSH and LCSH had more NDF and ADF, which fermented into greater amounts of acetate.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.825-829
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• 2004

Influence of different levels of corn steep liquor (CSL) on chemical composition of urea treated wheat straw (UTWS) and its dietary effect on nutrient intake, digestibility, milk yield and its composition were studied. The 5% UTWS was ensiled with 0, 3, 6 and 9% CSL on dry matter (DM) basis. Total nitrogen and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contents of UTWS ensiled with 0, 3, 6 and 9% CSL increased linearly with the increasing level of CSL. Increase in NDF content was due to increased neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen contents. Four experimental diets were formulated to contain 35% UTWS ensiled without CSL (control), 45 (WS45), 55 (WS55) and 65% (WS65) UTWS ensiled with 9% CSL, respectively. Dry matter, NDF and acid detergent fiber (ADF) intakes by lactating buffaloes fed diets containing varying levels of UTWS ensiled with or without CSL remained similar across all treatments. However, DM, NDF and ADF intakes as a percent of body weight and digestible DM, NDF and ADF intakes were higher in animals fed WS65 diet compared to those fed other diets. Apparent DM, crude protein (CP), NDF and ADF digestibilities were higher in diets containing UTWS ensiled with CSL compared to control. These differences may be attributed to higher rates of degradability of UTWS ensiled with 9% CSL than that ensiled without CSL. The 4% fat corrected milk and CP were statistically higher with WS65 diet compared to other diets. Percent milk fat, solid not fat and total solid remained unchanged across all treatments.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.777-783
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• 2004

Samples of 13 species of forest tree leaves fed to livestock in the semi-hilly arid zone of Punjab State in India were collected at 30 d interval for 12 months, in order to assess their nutritional worth for livestock. The ground samples were pooled for 4 different seasons viz. dry hot, hot humid, fall and winter. The chemical composition irrespective of the season revealed that CP content varied between 8.9 (Carrisa) to 22.0% (Leucaena). Globulin was the major protein fraction in most of the leaves. The lowest concentration of cell wall constituents was observed in Morus alba and Grewea. The leaves in general became fiberous and lignified during winter and fall as compared to summer season. The leaves of Grewea, Morus alba, Leucaena, Carrisa and Acacia were rich in Ca, P and most of the trace elements. The total phenolics ranged between 1.88% (Azardirachta) to 15.82% (Acacia). The leaves of Acacia had the highest concentration of hydrolysable tannins (14.6%) whereas that of Carrisa had that of condensed tannins (5.9%). The condensed tannins (more than 3%) were negatively correlated to the digestibility of dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude protein (CP). The digestion kinetic parameters for DM, NDF and CP revealed that leaves of Morus alba, Zizyphus and Ehretia had highest insoluble but potentially degradable fraction. The minimum rumen fill values also revealed that leaves of Grewea, Azardirachta, Morus, Ehretia and Leucaena had great potential for voluntary DM intake. The leaves of Ougeinia, Malha, Dodenia and Carrisa had significantly higher rumen fill value indicating poor potential for voluntary DM intake. Season did not have any significant impact on digestion kinetic parameters except that most of the leaves had low potentially degradable fraction, which was degraded at slow rate during winter. It was concluded that the leaves of Morus, Ehretia, Grewea and Leucaena had great potential as livestock feed, while feeding of Ougeinia, Malha and Dodonea leaves should be avoided.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 1996

About 7.7 million tons of straw dry matter are being rotten during the monsoon. The objective of this trial was to develop a technique to preserve straw under wet condition. To simulate the moisture content of wet straw, a dry straw was deeped overnight in water. After draining the excess water, the wet straw(668 g moisture $kg^{-1}$) was divided into twenty fractions and preserved with 0, 30, 50 ro 70 g urea $kg^{-1}$ dry matter for either of 30, 60, 90, 120 or 180 days in sealed plastic container. Considering the colour, smell, fungal infestation and pH, the wert straw was preserved excellently up to 180 days when 50 or 70 g of urea per kg DM was used. Urea preservation increased the crude protein contents of straw by 3.6 to 6.4 times (174 to $364g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) over that of the dry straw ($48g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$). Although the NDF content of straw was not effected by the level of urea or by the length of the preservation period, but the ADF content increased (p > 0.05) by 0.086 to $0.889g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ straw DM for each g increase in the urea level. At 48 hours, the DM degradability of dry straw was $350g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$, which increased to $633g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ when preserved with 50 g urea $kg^{-1}$ for 180 days. For the same straw, both the rate(0.0388 vs. 0.0136 fraction $h^{-1}$), the extent(717 vs. $631g{\cdot}kg^{-1}$) of straw degradation and the estimated ME(9.55 vs. $6.51MJ{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ straw DM) were higher in the preserved than the dry straw.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.220-228
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• 2007

The nutritive value and the effect of tannins on the utilization of foliage from three commonly used legumes, Acacia nilotica, Albizia procera, and Sesbania acculeata, were determined. Three mature rumen-fistulated bullocks were used to study in sacco degradability and twelve adult sheep were randomly allocated on the basis of live weight to 4 groups of 3 in each to study the in vivo digestibility of the foliages. In all foliages, the contents of crude protein (17 to 24% of DM) were high. Fibre was especially high in Albizia (NDF 58.8% of DM vs. 21% in Sesbania and 15.4% in Acacia). Contents of both hydrolysable (4.4 to 0.05%) and condensed tannins (1.2 to 0.04%) varied from medium to low in the foliages. Acacia contained the highest level of total phenolics (20.1%), protein precipitable phenolics (13.2%) and had the highest capacity to precipitate protein (14.7%). Drying in shade reduced the tannin content in Acacia and Albizia by 48.6 and 69.3% respectively. The foliages ranked similarly for each of the different methods used to estimate tannin content and activity. Acacia and Sesbania foliage was highly degradable (85-87% potential degradability of DM in sacco), compared to Albizia (52%), indicating a minimal effect of tannins in Acacia and Sesbania. Yet, in vitro, the tannins in the Acacia inhibited microbial activity more than those in Albizia and Sesbania. Following the addition of polyethylene glycol to neutralise the tannins, gas production and microbial growth increased by 59% and 0.09 mg RNA equiv./dg microbial yield respectively in the Acacia, compared to 16-17% and 0.06 mg RNA equiv./dg microbial yield in the other foliages. There was a trend for low in vivo apparent digestibility of N in the Acacia (43.2%) and Albizia (44.2%) compared to the Sesbania (54.5%) supplemented groups. This was likely to be due to presence of tannins. Consistent with this was the low N retention (0.22 and 0.19 g N/g NI) in sheep supplemented with Acacia and Albizia compared to that for the Sesbania (0.32). Similarly, a trend for poor microbial N yield was observed in sheep fed these foliages. Across the foliages tested, an increase in tannin content was associated with a reduction in ruminal fermentation, N digestibility and N retention. For overall nutritive value, Sesbania proved to be the superior forage of the three tested.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1466-1473
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• 2013

This experiment was conducted to study the variation laws and correlations of shearing force and feed characteristics including morphological characteristic, chemical composition and in situ degradability of wheat straw. Feasibility of evaluating the nutritional value of wheat straws with shearing force values was analyzed in this study. Six hundred wheat straw plants (Jimai 22) were randomly selected and placed in a cool and ventilated place. Samples were collected in the 1st, 15th, 30th, 45th, 60th d after harvest to measure shearing force, morphological characteristic, nutritional composition. Rumen degradation of dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of wheat straws were determined by the nylon bags method. The results demonstrated that linear and quadratic effects of storage time on all the tested morphological characteristics were significantly correlative (p<0.01). As storage time goes on, all the tested nutrients and their rumen degradations of wheat straw was linearly (p<0.01) and quadratic (p<0.01) correlative except ADF content and rumen degradation of ADF. Significant correlations were determined in linear effect of shearing force on morphological characteristics (p<0.01), and linear density and diameter were a more sensitive predictor than stem thickness for shearing force. There were strong correlations between storage time and all the measured physical characteristics (shearing force, morphological characteristics and shearing force standardized by morphological characteristics) (p<0.01). Nutrition compositions were linearly correlative with shearing force and standardized shearing force (p<0.01). The linear correlation between rumen degradation of DM and NDF and shearing force and standardized shearing force were evident (p<0.01). In conclusion, shearing force, nutrition compositions and their rumen degradation of wheat straw were still dynamic with storage time after harvest. Correlation could be found between shearing force and nutritional characteristics of wheat straw. Nutrient content, morphological index and rumen degradation of DM and NDF could be predicted by changes in shearing force. Shearing force should be applied according to a standardized storage time when it is used to forecast the feed value of wheat straws.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1381-1388
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• 2019

Objective: The aims of this study were to reveal the magnitude of the differences in protein structures at a cellular level as well as protein utilization and availability among soybean meal (SBM), canola meal (CM), and rapeseed meal (RSM) as feedstocks in China. Methods: Experiments were designed to compare the three different types of feedstocks in terms of: i) protein chemical profiles; ii) protein fractions partitioned according to Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System; iii) protein molecular structures and protein second structures; iv) special protein compounds-amino acid (AA); v) total digestible protein and energy values; vi) in situ rumen protein degradability and intestinal digestibility. The protein second structures were measured using FT/IR molecular spectroscopy technique. A summary chemical approach in National Research Council (NRC) model was applied to analyze truly digestible protein. Results: The results showed significant differences in both protein nutritional profiles and protein structure parameters in terms of ${\alpha}-helix$, ${\beta}-sheet$ spectral intensity and their ratio, and amide I, amide II spectral intensity and their ratio among SBM, CM, and RSM. SBM had higher crude protein (CP) and AA content than CM and RSM. For dry matter (DM), SBM, and CM had a higher DM content compared with RSM (p<0.05), whereas no statistical significance was found between SBM and CM (p = 0.28). Effective degradability of CP and DM did not demonstrate significant differences among the three groups (p>0.05). Intestinal digestibility of rumen undegradable protein measured by three-step in vitro method showed that there was significant difference (p = 0.05) among SBM, CM, and RSM, which SBM was the highest and RSM was the lowest with CM in between. NRC modeling results showed that digestible CP content in SBM was significantly higher than that of CM and RSM (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study suggested that SBM and CM contained similar protein value and availability for dairy cattle, while RSM had the lowest protein quality and utilization.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.210-214
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• 1997

Ruminal degradation characteristics and intestinal availability of crude protein (CP) in four animal-origin feeds (fish meal, meat meal, viscera meal, feather meal) were estimated by mobile nylon bag technique. Three ruminally and duodenally cannulated Holstein dairy cows (average body wt. 550kg) fed a diet containing 40% concentrate and 60% orchard grass hay on a dry matter (DM) basis. Assuming that the outflow rate of diet in rumen is 5% per hour (k =0.05), contents of quickly degradable CP (QDP), slowly degradable CP (SDP), and undegradable CP (UDP) in the rumen were 27.6%, 9.4%, 63.0% for fish meal, 34.3% 28.1%, 37,6% for meat meal, 43.9%, 12.5%, 43.6% for viscera meal, and 14.4%, 15.8%, 69.8% for feather meal, respectively. Intestinal CP degradability was 51.0% for fish meal, 27.2% for meat meal, 37.9% for viscera meal and 56.2% for feather meal. Available UDP in the intestinal tract was contained 288 g, 217 g, 246 g and 423 g per kilogram DM of diet in fish meal, meat meal, viscera meal and feather meal, respectively.