Nutritional Evaluation of Hay of Three Varieties of Oat in Sheep

Hay of three varieties viz. JHO-851, JHO-822 and Kent was prepared. Twelve sheep (22.62±0.97 kg), divided into three equal groups of 4 each, were offered particular variety of oat hay ad lib over a period of 25 d followed by a metabolism trial of 7 d duration and collection of rumen liquor samples, JHO-822 contained higher CP and lower NDF than both JHO-851 and Kent. The dry matter intake (%Body wt.) remained similar in all groups. The digestibility of DM, OM, NDF, ADF, cellulose, hemicellulose and ADL including energy (DE) differed significantly, being maximum in-JHO-822, followed by Kent and JHO-851, however, digestibility of CP and EE was maximum in JHO-851 while minimum in Kent. The daily N retention was 2.43±0.21, 4.53±0.11 and 4.39±0.39 g in Kent, JHO-851 and JHO-822, respectively, which differed significantly (P<0.01). The TDN (%) and DE (Kcal/g) contents were lower in JHO-851 (61.66±1.04 and 2.49±0.08) than JHO-822 (66.76±0.72 and 2.78±0.02) and Kent (64.26±0.91 and 2.87±0.03) varieties. However, both new varieties were better in DCP content than Kent which met only 87% of the maintenance requirement of the protein. The average rumen pH and TVFA concentration were comparable among the groups. However concentration of nitrogen metabolities were higher in JHO-822 and JHO-851 than in Kent. It may be concluded that JHO-822 oat hay was nutritionally superior to both JHO-851 and Kent hay.