Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8492811 | Animal Feed Science and Technology | 2011 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
Studies were conducted to determine the rumen degradable nitrogen (RDN) requirement levels for optimum microbial protein synthesis and nutrient utilization in Nellore rams fed on finger millet straw (FMS) based diet. Thirty six Nellore sheep were randomly divided into four groups of nine animals each using the balanced completely randomized design. Animals in all the groups were fed finger millet straw as a basal roughage and groundnut cake (GNC) was offered daily in two equal halves in the morning (8.00Â AM) and evening (4.00Â PM) as RDN source. The animals in group I (GI) were fed with ad libitum FMS. Animals in group II, III and IV (GII, GIII, and IV) were offered GNC @ 12.4, 16.6, and 21.1Â g RDN/kg digestible organic matter (DOM) along with FMS. The daily total dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) intakes linearly increased (P<0.05) with increasing level of RDN supplementation while there was no difference in total DM and OM intake/kg W0.75 among different experimental groups. The digestibility coefficients of DM (P<0.001), OM (P<0.001), crude protein (CP) (P<0.001), ether extract (EE) (P<0.001), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) (P<0.01) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) (P<0.03) increased quadratically with increasing level of RDN supplementation from GI to GIV. The purine derivatives (PD) excretion, microbial purine absorption and microbial nitrogen supply (MNSÂ g/day) linearly increased (P<0.001) as the level of RDN supplementation increased. There was no difference in nitrogen capture efficiency (NCE) and microbial nitrogen to total urinary nitrogen ratio (MN:UN) among the RDN supplemented groups. This study indicated that 12Â g RDN/kg digestible organic matter intake (RDNÂ g/kg DOMI) or 18Â g RDN/kg OM apparently digested in the rumen (RDNÂ g/kg DOMR) may be adequate for optimum microbial protein synthesis and digestibility of nutrients, there by improved plane of nutrition in sheep fed on finger millet straw based diet.
Keywords
ADFOM apparently digested in the rumenDOMIDMIEMNSNDFRDNNCEGNCOMIMNsFMSacid detergent fibreMicrobial protein synthesisether extractneutral detergent fibreDOMorganic matterdigestible organic matterdry matterPurine derivativesorganic matter intakedigestible organic matter intakedry matter intakecrude protein
Related Topics
Life Sciences
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Animal Science and Zoology
Authors
M. Chandrasekharaiah, A. Thulasi, K.P. Suresh, K.T. Sampath,