Nutrient Digestibility and Gas Production of Some Tropical Feeds Used in Ruminant Diets Estimated by the in vivo and in vitro Gas Production Techniques

Abstract

Abstract: Some feedstuffs which used in ruminants diet (corn grain, soybean meal, wheat bran and alfalfa) were analyzed for chemical composition, apparent in vivo nutrient digestibility, in vitro fermentation gas production and metabolizable energy. Chemical composition of test feeds differed in nutrient contents. Initially apparent in vivo digestibility of alfalfa nutrients were obtained then digestibility of nutrients for the other test feeds were determined by difference method, using 16 Ghezel mature rams (mean weight of 43.9±4 kg). In vivo DM, CP, NDF and OM apparent digestibility were different among the test feeds (p<0.05). Regarding to the results, corn grain had a high DM and OM digestibility between test feeds and soybean meal had a high CP and NDF digestibility between