*Veteninary Assistant Surgeon, Seethanagaram, Vizianagaram District, A.P.
**Dept., of Animal Nutrition, A P Agricultural University, Hyderabad
Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Science, Tirupaii-517 502, India
Online published on 29 December, 2011.
Forest grass hays of nendra (Sehima nervosum) and spear (Heteropogan contortus) and crop residues such as sunflower straw, jowar straw, groundnut hulls, cotton straw, bagasse and maize stover were evaluated for their nutritional quality by in-vitrn and in-sacco methods. The CP content (%) was highest in sunflower straw (10.40) and lowest in bagasse (1.13). The NDF, ADF and cellulose fractions were lower in maize stover but it had the highest in vitro DM digestibility, followed by sunflower straw, Groundnut hulls and cotton straw having slower DM degradation rateshowed only a marginal increase in DM disappearance even after extending the period of incubation to 72h. Sunflower straw had highest effective degradahle DM (EDDM) of 30.50% followed by 29.72% for maize stover. Hence amongst the roughages tested, sunflower straw and maize stover could be ranke as potential forage resources for feeding to sheep.
