Studies of cattle and sheep eating leaf and stem fractions of grasses. 1. The voluntary intake, digestibility and retention time in the reticulo-rumen

摘要: Pangola grass (Digitaria decumbens) and Rhodes (Chloris gayana) were cut as 6 12 week regrowths, dried, chopped, separated into leaf stem fractions by using a gravity separator. Each of the eight diets was offered to four cattle sheep fitted with ruminal cannula measure voluntary intake digestibility dry matter (DM), organic (OM) neutral detergent fibre (NDF). Possible deficiencies protein minerals minimized in this study feeding casein mineral supplement. The total DM, OM NDF contents rumeno-reticulum (rumen) measured manually emptying rumen values used estimate retention times NDF. Cattle consumed 35% more than fraction. Sheep 21 % leaf. When daily expressed g/kg0.9 similar for sheep. higher fraction associated shorter time that it retained both Leaf digested same extent cattle. There also no difference fed digestive efficiency 0.033 lower DM all longer periods did This It concluded grasses, not differences such.