Six Red Maasai sheep were used to investigate the effects of urea treatment and cotton seed cake supplementation of maize stover on intake, digestibility and rumen fermentation parameters. The basal feeds were Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay (H), untreated maize (Zea mays) stover (US) and treated maize stover (TS), each of which was supplemented with 100 g of cotton seed cake (CSC) to make H+...

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of varying forage particle length on chewing activity, sorting behavior, rumen pH and rumen fill in late lactation and dry dairy cattle, fed rations with similar physically effective NDF but different mean particle length. Treatments consisted of three diets differing only in geometric mean length of forage: hay (5.40, 8.96 and 77.90 mm, ...

The aim of this experiment was to investigate rumen fermentation and some blood parameters of dromedary camels fed with C3 and C4 forage. Four fistulated dromedary adult camels were fed with diets as a changeover design, 30 days for each period. The diets included alfalfa hay + wheat straw (C3 forage) and atriplex+ suaeda + seidlitzia (C4 forage). At ...

The aim of this study was to compare two tropical grass species, Panicum maximum and Digitaria eriantha, in terms of silage fermentation attributes and certain rumen fermentation characteristics of silage made either at the boot or full bloom stages of growth. A lower silage pH was recorded for the D. eriantha than for the P. maximum silage. Neither species nor maturity stage had a significant ...

Microbial protein synthesis of steers (liveweight 286±9 kg) was compared with diets of ad libitum winter grass and fodder beet with 1 kg DM of lucerne silage. The experimental design was a four-by-two treatment comparison (experiment 1 and 2), using 11 day individual pen trials with total faecal and urinary collection. The trials assessed in vivo digestibility of diets, and diurnal variations i...

Five mature wethers fitted with rumen fistulas were fed grass hay and a sugarbeet-pulp-based concentrate or maize silage and a cereal-based concentrate (50/50 digestible organic matter basis), or without with 5 g yeast supplement (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Biosaf) per day in a latin square design. Diets were given for a 28-d adaptation period, followed by a 10-d collection period to determine d...

Materials and Methods Dietary supplementation of probiotic yeast ( ) was noted to improve the animal performance by improving the digestibility of nutrients and rumen bacterial number [1]. Addition of yeast culture, as a probiotic, in animal feeds improves fibre digestion [2], the cellulolytic activity of rumen microbes [3], and reduces the lactate accumulation and oxygen concentration in rumen...

Eight rumen-fistulated steers were randomly assigned to mediumand high-concentrate diets supplemented with O, .75, 2.5 and 5% of either sodium bicarbonate or an artificial saliva salts mixture. Each animal was fed for 21 d at 75 g dry matter/kg body weight 'Ts. Rates of soybean meal (SBM) degradation were predicted by adjusting digestion rates in nylon bags with respective passage rates of chro...

Thirty neonatal male Holstein calves fed by starter diets containing ground wheat (GW) or dry-rolled wheat (DRW) to 12 weeks of age. Skeletal growth measures, starter digestibility, starter intake, blood metabolites and rumen metabolites of nursing calves were assessed in weeks 4, 8 and 12 to assess rumen development and find the optimum method of wheat processing for calves. Calves were weaned...

An experiment was designed to investigate whether the degree of synchrony between the rates of digestion of carbohydrates and N of foods offered as a choice would have an effect, through their consequences, on the short- and long-term diet selection of sheep. Four foods (RL, RH, SL and SH) with the same high metabolizable energy, and similar high metabolizable protein contents were made into pe...