Department of Animal Nutrition, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar - 125 004, India.
Online published on 5 January, 2012.
Twelve adult rams of about 2 years of age and body weight (26 kg) were divided into two groups and fed on poplar (Populus deltoideus) leaves silage (T2) vis-a-vis oat hay (T1) for 51 d. A metabolism trial of 7 days duration was conducted in between the experimental period. Average daily DM intake were 2.20 and 2.97 kg/100 kg B.W. or 49.41 and 68.13 g/kg W°°7S in T, and T groups, respectively. The DCP (%), TDN (%), DE (Mcal/kg) and ME (Mcal/kg) of silage were 3.23; 45.58; 1.94 and 1.71 while the corresponding values for oat hay were 5.35; 53.74; 2.35 and 2.03, respectively. On an average rams in groups T fed poplar silage lost 3.46 kg body weight at the end of the experiment, as the ME consumption from silage was only 84.01 KCal per kg W0.75 compared to 138.86 KCal per kg W0.75 from oat hay. The silage feeding resulted in lower nitrogen retention (g/d) and higher levels (P <0.05) of blood urea nitrogen and blood glucose (mg/100 ml) compared to oat baty feeding. It was concluded that mature fallen poplar leaves silage cannot meet the maintenance requirement of sheep.
