EFFECT OF SOME GREEN-CROP-DRYING PROCESSES ON THE DIGESTIBILITY AND VOLUNTARY INTAKE OF HERBAGE BY SHEEP

1365-2494

Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005

Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition

The effect of artificial drying under commercial conditions on the digestibility and voluntary intake of herbage by sheep was studied, using either van den Broek (900°C inlet temperature) or Swiss Combi (1100°C inlet temperature) triple-pass drum-type driers. Organic-matter digestibility of chopped dried herbage was 8·3, 5·8 and 5·3% lower than that of fresh herbage in Experiments 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Packaging chopped dried grass into ‘cobs’ caused a further reduction in OM digestibility of up to 2·8%. Pre-milling plus packaging (i.e. ‘pelleting’) depressed OM digesti bility of chopped dried grass by 5 to 6 percentage units. Digestibility of dried grass in its various physical forms was further reduced when offered ad lib.; the greatest fall (9·4%) occurred with pellets and the smallest fall (0·8−1·3%) with loose chopped material; cobs were intermediate at 4·3−7·0%.

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