In Vitro Methane Production Potential and In Sacco Degradability of Non-Leguminous and Leguminous Straws and Stovers

The study was taken up to assess the methane production potential and nutritional worth of nonleguminous [wheat straw (WS), paddy straw (PS), maize stovers (MS), and pearl millet stalks (PMS)], leguminous [soybean straw (SBS), groundnut straw (GNS) and moong straw] straws by in vitro gas production and in-sacco techniques. MS and SBS had highest (P<0.01) NDF content. The leguminous straws had higher CP (P<0.01) and ADL (P<0.05) contents and lower NDF (P<0.01) and hemicelluloses (P<0.05) content as compared to non-leguminous straws. The net gas production (NGP), digestibility of NDF and true OM, partitioning factor (PF) and ME availability in MS was higher (P<0.01) than all other nonleguminous straws. Total and individual VFAs production was the highest (P<0.01) in PMS. The methane production at t-half was lowest (P<0.01) in PMS comparable with MS, but was highest (P<0.01) in PS. Among leguminous straws all parameters were higher (P<0.01) in GNS except methane production which was lowest (P<0.01) as compared to all other straws. The comparative evaluation revealed that the leguminous straws had lower (P<0.01) methane production as compared to non-leguminous straws. The digestion kinetic parameters for DM and NDF revealed that MS had the highest (P<0.01) effective degradability (ED), undegradable fraction (UDF), true degradability (TD) and lowest rumen fill (RF)predicting higher DM intake as compared to other straws. Amongst the leguminous straws, GNS had highest (P<0.05) UDF, TD and lowest in SBS. The comparative evaluation revealed higher (P<0.01) ED in nonleguminous straws, while other parameters were higher (P<0.05) in leguminous straws. It was concluded that MS and GNS were considered as the best in their respective category. Overall, methane production was low and nutrient availability was higher in leguminous as compared to non-leguminous straws.