Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T03:31:45.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prediction of voluntary dry-matter intake, digestible dry-matter intake and growth rate of cattle from the degradation characteristics of tropical foods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

M. N. Shem ,
E. R. Ørskov  and
A. E. Kimambo
M. N. Shem
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
E. R. Ørskov
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
A. E. Kimambo
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
Get access

Abstract

An experiment using twenty-five bulls aged between 1 and 1·5 years and weighing 117 to 209 kg was carried out to estimate voluntary dry-matter intake (DMI), digestible dry-matter intake (DDMI), dry-matter apparent digestibility (DMD) and growth rate when the bulls were given 18 foods available from smallholder dairy farms on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The animals were randomly allocated to five groups of five animals each. Foods were then randomly allocated to the five groups for four periods of 60 days each during which DMI was measured. A digestion trial was made at the completion of each measurement. Outflow rates of solids from the rumen were determined by giving the animals 200 g Cr-mordanted fibre of each food and grab faecal samples were obtained. Dry matter (DM) degradation characteristics of the foods were determined in sacco in the rumen of three Boran steers fed on guatemala grass and the water soluble fraction (A) was measured. DMI varied from 2·2 kg for banana pseudostem to 4·77 kg/day for urea-treated maize stover. DMD ranged from 549 for untreated maize stover to 767 g/kg DM for banana pseudostem and growth rate ranged from 72 for banana leaves to 275 glday for urea-treated maize stover. Potential degradability (defined by A + B) (where B is the insoluble fraction degradable with time) for the DM ranged from 617 g for banana leaves to 874 g/kg DM for banana pseudostem and the degradation rate (c) ranged from 0·0168 for banana leaves to 0·0440 per h for green maize stover. The separate use of degradation characteristics A, B and c in multiple regression to predict DMI, DDMI, and growth rates gave better results than when A + B or (A + B) + c were used. Multiple correlation coefficients between degradation characteristics and DMI, DDMI and group rate were r– 0·90, 0·93 and 0·93 respectively. The results indicate that DMI, DDMI and growth rates by cattle fed on crop residues and forages could be predicted well using the rumen degradation characteristics of the foods.

Keywords

cattlefood intakerumen digestiontropical Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , February 1995 , pp. 65 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Association of Official Analytical Chemists 1980. Official methods of analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 13th ed. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Campling, R. C. 1970. Regulation of voluntary intake. In Physiology of digestion and metabolism in the ruminant (ed. Phillipson, A. T.), p. 226. Oriel Press, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.Google Scholar
Carro, M. D., Lopez, S., Gonzalez, J. S. and Ovejero, F. J. 1991. The use of rumen degradation characteristics of hay as predictors of its voluntary intake by sheep. Animal Production 52:133–139.Google Scholar
Chenost, M., Grenet, E., Demarquilly, C. and Jarrige, R. 1970. The use of the nylon bag technique for the study of forage digestion in the rumen and for predicting feed value. Proceedings of the eleventh international grassland congress, Surfer's Paradise, pp. 607–701. University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Australia.Google Scholar
Dhanoa, M. S. 1988. On the analysis of dacron bag data for low degradability feeds. Grass and Forage Science 43: 441–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolberg, F., Saadullah, M. and Haque, M. 1981. A short review of the feeding value of water plants. Tropical Animal Production 6: 322–326.Google Scholar
Elimam, M. E. and Ørskov, E. R. 1984. Estimation of rates of outflow of protein supplement from the rumen by determining the rate of excretion of chromium-treated protein supplements in faeces. Animal Production 39: 77–80.Google Scholar
Gerona, G. R., Sanchez, S. L., Posas, O. B., Anduyan, G. A. P., Jaya, A. F. and Barrientos, C. G. 1986. Ruminant feeding systems utilizing fibrous agricultural residues. Proceedings of the sixth annual workshop of Australian-Asian Fibrous Agricultural Residue Research Network (ed. Dixon, R. M.), University of Philippines.Google Scholar
Goering, H. G. and Van Soest, P. J. 1970. Forage fibre analysis (apparatus, reagents, procedures and some applications). Agricultural handbook, US Department of Agriculture, no. 379.Google Scholar
Grovum, W. L. and Williams, V. J. 1973. Rate of passage of digesta in sheep. 1. The effect of level of intake on market retention times along the small intestines and on apparent water absorption in the small and large intestine. British journal of Nutrition 29:13–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grovum, W. L. and Williams, V. J. 1977. Rate of passage of digesta in sheep. 6. The effect of level of food intake on mathematical predictions of the kinetics of digesta in the reticulo-rumen and intestines. British journal of Nutrition 38: 425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hovell, F. D. DeB., Nǵambi, J. W. W., Barber, W. P. and Kyle, D. J. 1986. The voluntary intake of hay by sheep in relation to its degradability in the rumen as measured in nylon bags. Animal Production 42:111–118.Google Scholar
Kaske, M., Hatiboglu, S. and Engelhardt, V. W. 1992. The influence of density and size of particles on rumination and passage from the reticulo-rumen of sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 67: 235–244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, P. M. and Murphy, M. R. 1988. The nutritional implications of differential passage of particles through the ruminant alimentary tract. Nutrition Research Reviews 1: 189–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kibon, A. and Ørskov, E. R. 1993. The use of degradation characteristics of browse plants to predict intake and digestibility by goats. Animal Production 57: 247–251.Google Scholar
Lawes Agricultural Trust. 1983. Genstat 4 users' manual. Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden.Google Scholar
Martz, F. A. and Belyea, R. L. 1986. Role of paticle size and forage quality in digestion and passage by cattle and sheep. Journal of Dairy Science 69:1996–2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, I. 1981. A revised model for the estimation of protein degradability in the rumen. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 96: 251–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland and Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. 1975. Energy allowances and feeding systems for ruminants. Technical bulletin 33. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., Hovell, F. D. DeB. and Mould, F. 1980. The use of the nylon bag technique for the evaluation of feedstuffs. Tropical Animal Production 5: 195–213.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., Ojwang, I. and Reid, G. W. 1988. A study on consistency of differences between cows in rumen outflow rate of fibrous particles and other substrates and consequences for digestibility and intake of roughages. Animal Production 47: 45–51.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., Reid, G. W. and Kay, M. 1988. Prediction of intake by cattle from degradation characteristics of roughages. Animal Production 46: 29–34.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R. and Ryle, M. 1990. Energy nutrition in ruminants, pp. 102–121. Elsevier Science Publishers, London.Google Scholar
Poppi, D. P., Minson, D. J. and Ternouth, J. H. 1981. Studies of cattle and sheep eating leaf and stem fractions of grass. III. The retention time in the rumen of large feed particles. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 32: 123–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruiz, G. and Rowe, J. B. 1980. Intake and digestion of different parts of the banana plant. Tropical Animal Production 5: 253–256.Google Scholar
Shaver, R. D., Satter, L. D. and Jorgensen, N. A. 1988. Impact of forage fibre content on digestion and digesta passage in lactating dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 71: 1556–1565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shem, M. N. 1993. Evaluation of the locally available feed resources on smallholder farms on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Steel, R. G. D. and Torrie, J. H. 1980. Principles and procedures of statistics. A biometrical approach. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Stevenson, A. F. and Langen, H. de. 1960. Measurement of feed intake by grazing cattle and sheep. VII. Modified wet digestion method for determination of chromic oxide in faeces. New Zealand journal Agriculture 3: 314–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Susmel, P., Stefanon, B., Mills, C. R. and Spanghero, M. 1990. Rumen degradability of organic matter, nitrogen and fibre fractions in forages. Animal Production 51: 515–526.Google Scholar
Udén, P., Collucci, P. E. and Van Soest, P. J. 1980. Investigation of chromium, cerium and cobalt as markers in digesta. Rate of passage studies. Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture 31: 625–632.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waldo, D. R., Miller, K. W., Okamoto, M. and Moore, I. A. 1965. Effect of feeding buffers to dairy cows fed a high-concentrate low-roughage ration. Journal of Dairy Science 48: 1459–1485.Google Scholar
Weston, R. H. and Hogan, J. P. 1967. Digestion of chopped and ground roughages by sheep. Movement of digesta through the stomach. Australian journal of Agricultural Research 1:789–801.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weston, R. H. and Cantle, J. A. 1983. Digestion studies with two sheep genotypes exhibiting a difference in voluntary roughage consumption. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of Australia 8: 177–181.Google Scholar
Western, R. H. 1984. The movement of undigested plant particle fractions through the stomach of roughage-fed young sheep. Canadian journal of Animal Science 64: suppl., pp.324.Google Scholar