Department of Feed & Fodder Technology, A. P. Agricultural University, College of Veterinary Science, Hyderabad-500 030, India
Online published on 29 December, 2011.
Four complete diets, containing 1) 40% sorghum straw 2) 40% sunflower straw, 3) 30% sunflower straw plus 10% groundnut haulms and 4) 20% sunflower straw plus 20% groundnut haulms were compared with a conventional diet (concentrate mixture+chopped sorghum straw) in an experiment using 5 crossbred bulls in a Latin Square Design. DM intake was comparable on all the diets. The digestibilities of all the nutrients were comparable between conventional ration and complete diet 4 while diet 2 had lowest digestibility of OM, CP, NDF, ADF (P<0.05), cellulose, hemicellisose and lignin (P<0.01). Aff. the experimental animals were on positive N, Ca and P balances. Complete diet 4 had highest DCP while complete diet 2 had lowest TDN compared to other diets. However, all the experimental animals on all the diets met DCP and TDN requirements except for DCP on conventional diet. These results indicated- that sunflower straw is a potential roughage source and it can be further improved by the inclusion of groundnut haulms in the ration of crossbred bulls.
