Effect of Feeding Fungal Treated Wheat Straw on Dry Matter Consumption and Nutrient Utilization in Crossbred Goats

Wheat straw was treated with 3 per cent urea, 1 per cent Single super phosphate and 0.1 per cent CaO with moisture adjusted at 75 per cent and ensiled under sealed polyethylene bags for one month. Simultaneously, another lot of wheat straw (treated as above) was inoculated with Coprinus fimetarius culture (grown on millets) @ 1.3 per cent put into polyethylene bags of 3 kg capacity and subjected to solid substrate fermentation for one month. The urea treated straw (UTS) and fungal treated straw (FTS) were fed in dried form as sole ration to 6 Alpine x Beetal goats divided into 2 equal groups. The CP content of FTS was 10.12 percent as against 7.12 per cent for UTS. The DMI (g/d) was 549.7 and 445.3 for FTS and CTS respectively (P < 0.01). However, this significance was lost when DMI was expressed as g/kg W^0.75. Except for digestibility coefficient of NFE which was higher (P < 0.01), the digestibility coefficients of CF, NDF and hemi-cellulose were lower (P < 0.01) for FTS as compared to those for UTS. The values for DCP and TDN were 2.24 and 41.82 per cent for UTS, and 3.29 and 43.62 per cent for FTS respectively. The N balances were negative on feeding UTS and FTS to goats.