Department of Feed and Fodder Technology, College of Veterinary Science, Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad-500030, India
Online published on 21 January, 2012.
A non-cereal based complete ration was formulated utilizing sunflower heads as sole roughage source and processed into mash and pellet forms. These two forms of the complete rations were compared with a conventional ration comprising of concentrate feed and paddy straw for nutrient utilization in digestion and metabolic trial on 3 permanently fistulated Nellore rams in a 3 X 3 latin square design. While the voluntary DM intake was not significantly different among the rations, the complete rations showed significantly higher digestibilities of DM, CF, OM, EE (P 0.01) and CP and NFE (P<0.05) than the conventional ration. Pelleting of mash increased the digestibilities of all nutrients except CP and CF. The experimental animals on all the rations were on positive N, Ca and P balances. Due to digestibility differences DCP and TDN were higher with complete rations than conventional ration. The concentrations of all ruminal N fractions and TVFA were significantly (P< 0 01) higher on feeding pelleted ration than conventional ration.
