Feed Intake and Utilization of Sodium Hydroxide-Treated Rice Straw as Affected by Supplements of Cassava Peels and Treated Water Hyacinth

RUTH YEBOAH 121 PAGES (27596 WORDS) Animal Science Thesis

ABSTRACT

Several strategies such as chemical treatment and supplementation have been used in an attempt to improve the quality of rice straw as a feed for livestock. Protein and energy supplementation has been shown to improve the nutritive value of straw. Three experiments were conducted on the hypothesis that ensiled water hyacinth, with or without cassava peels, will enhance the utilization of the basal diet of NaOH-treated rice straw and addition of dried cassava peels to ensiled water hyacinth will supply readily available energy and thus improve growth of sheep when fed as a supplement to a basal diet of NaOH- treated rice straw.

Experiment one compared the nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention of NaOH- treated rice straw supplemented with: ensiled water hyacinth leave (WHL) diet 1, ensiled water hyacinth whole plant (WHLS) diet 2, ensiled water hyacinth leave + cassava peels (WHLCP) diet 3, ensiled water hyacinth whole plant + cassava peels (WHLS-CP) diet 4 and sodium hydroxide-treated rice straw alone (ENS) diet 5, in 5x5 Latin square design. The difference between nutrient digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent fiber and organic matter for WHL-CP and WHLS-CP was both significant (p0.05) on rumen pH. Significant differences (p