Dry Matter Intake and Digestibility of Basmati and Coarse Variety Paddy Straw as Compared to Wheat Straw

Three rumen fistulated crossbred adult cattle were fed three different straws viz. wheat straw (T₁), basmati paddy straw (T₂) and coarse variety paddy straw (T₃) ad lib. in a 3x3 switch-over experiment. Additionally, each animal was offered 1.5 kg concentrate mixture. DM intake was 6.895, 7.685 and 7.565 kg/day in treatments T₁, T₂ and T₃, respectively and value was significantly (P<0.05) lower in treatment T₁ than those in T₂ and T₃. The digestibility of DM, CP, CF, EE and NFE were significantly (P<0.05) higher in treatments T₂ and T₃ than in T₁. However, variations between T₂ and T₃ were nonsignificant. Rumen pH, NH₃-N, Total-N and TVFA's levels in SRL were not affected significantly by dietary treatments.