Title: EFFECTS OF FEEDING ACACIA (Samanea saman (Jacq.) Merr.) POD MEAL ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF HEIFERS AND IN VITRO RUMEN FLUID METHANE AND CARBON DIOXIDE PRODUCTION IN RUMEN-CANNULATED CATTLE
Abstract: DecenaABSTRACTThe objectives of this study wereto evaluate the effects of feeding acacia pod meal (APM) on thegrowth performance of heifers andin vitro carbon dioxide(CO2)and methane(CH4)productionin rumen-cannulated cattle.In Exp. 1, 18growing heifers (initial BW: 220 ±20 kg) were randomly distributed to 3 dietary treatments:1)100% Rice bran-copra meal combination(RBC), 2) 50% Rice bran-copra meal-50% APMcombination (RCA),and3) 100% APM.Animals were provided their respective rationsfor 60 d based on a feeding rate equivalent to 3.5% of the animal’s BW (on a DM basis). Dietary treatments were offeredat 70:30 roughage to concentrate ratio with the concentrate containing varying levels of APM.Inclusion of APMdid not affect ADFI but negatively affected (P<0.05) both ADG and F:G. In Exp. 2,3rumen-cannulatedcattlewere used to measure the in vitro total gas,CO2 and CH4production usingeither APM,napier grass,and rice bran D1-copra meal as incubation substrate.There were no differences in the quantities of total gas, CH4,CO2,and CO2:CH4ratiomeasured between the treatments.It can be concluded that feeding acacia pod meal to growing cattle negatively affected ADG and F:G. In vitro gas production alone cannot explain the poorer growth performance observed incattle fed with acacia pod meal. Keywords:acacia pod meal, heifers, growth performance, carbon dioxide, methane, in vitrogas production
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-05-20
Language: en
Type: article
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