Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB29SB, Scotland, UK
*Present Address: Dairy Cattle Nutrition Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal -132 001, India
Online published on 5 January, 2012.
Two varieties of wheat straw (No. 2329 : A; No. 2009 : B) from the crops having similar grain yields and grata: straw ratio grown under identical agroclimatic conditions, at the same time and in the same field, were analysed for certain chemical components and rumen degradabllity, as such and after NH3 treatment. The straw variety A had higher CP (3.2%) than the variety B (2.6%). The variety A had also a tower ash (8.4%) and silica (0.8%) compared tovariety B (9.7%; 13%), The neutral detergent cellulose digestibility (NCD) was higher for variety A (35.7%) than for variety B (33.6%). Ammoniation had a slight effect on increasing the NCD value for both the varieties of straws. The potential degradabllity was significantly (F<0.01) higher for variety A (64.8%) than for variety B(59.4%). The NH3 treatment significantly (P<0.01) increased the degradation rate of both the varieties. The study indicated that there were differences in the degradation characteristics of both the straw varieties, which could be attributed to genetic variation rather than the environmental factors.
