Effect of Feeding Processed Paddy Straw Based Complete Diets on Nutrient Utilization and Rumen Fermentation Pattern in Sheep

A complete diet with paddy straw as sole roughage source was formulated in roughage concentrate ratio of 50:50 and processed into mash. One third of the mash was subjected to expander-extruder pelleting and another one third was densified with block making machine into blocks of 150x150x50mm. These two processed diets along with mash diet were fed to 18 adult male Deccani sheep in a completely randomized design. The diets on an average contained 8.52% crude protein (CP) and 38.4% crude fibre (CF). The dry matter (DM), organic matter, CF, CP (P<0.05), energy, cell contents, neutral and acid detergent fibre digestibility was higher (P<0.01) in sheep fed expander extruder pelleted (EEP) diet in comparison to those fed on mash or densified blocks. The nutrient digestibility was comparable between mash and densified form. The nutritive value of complete diet was higher when processed with expander-extruder than densified or mash form. All the lambs could meet the nutrient requirements (ICAR, 1998). The ruminal concentration of ammonia nitrogen and total nitrogen though comparable among all groups, a trend (P>0.05) of lower NH₃-N and higher total-N was observed on processed diets than that on mash form. The total volatile fatty acids concentration was higher (P<0.01) in SRL of lambs fed EEP diet than other two diets. The results of this study indicated that paddy straw incorporated at 50% level in complete diets could meet the maintenance requirements of sheep. Out of the three processing methods complete diet processed with expander extruder improved the nutritive value of the diet.