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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (11): 190-197.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2019567

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Degradation characteristics of conventional and unconventional roughage in the rumen of dairy cows

LIU Xiang-sheng, DENG Bo-bo, WANG Kuo-peng, FENG Li-mei, ZHAO Guo-qi, LIN Miao*   

  1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China
  • Received:2019-12-23 Revised:2020-04-23 Online:2020-11-20 Published:2020-11-20
  • Contact: *E-mail:linmiao@yzu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    现代农业产业技术体系专项资金(CARS-36),江苏省高校优势学科建设工程项目和江苏省科协青年科技人才托举工程资助

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the rumen degradation characteristics of conventional roughage (corncob, soybean pod shell) and unconventional roughage (corn silage, alfalfa hay) for dairy cows. Three Holstein cows with permanent ruminal cannulas were used to evaluate the ruminal degradability of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) using the nylon-bag technique. It was found that: 1) The CP content in alfalfa hay (17.55%) was significantly higher than that in soybean pod shell (11.10%; P<0.05). The CP content in corncob (2.97%) was significantly lower than that in corn silage (8.41%; P<0.05). The NDF and ADF content in corncob (79.98% and 43.35%, respectively) were significantly higher than in the other three feedstuffs (P<0.05). 2) The DM effective degradability of alfalfa hay was the highest (P<0.05) among the tested feedstuffs, which ranked: alfalfa hay>soybean pod shell>corn silage>corncob. The CP effective degradability of soybean pod shell was significantly higher than the other three feedstuffs (P<0.05), which ranked: soybean pod shell>alfalfa hay>corn silage>corncob. The NDF effective degradability of alfalfa hay was significantly higher than soybean pod shell (P<0.05); there was no significant difference in NDF digestibility between corn silage and soybean pod shell (P<0.05). The ADF effective degradability of corncob was the highest (P<0.05) among the tested feedstuffs; there was no significant difference in ADF effective degradability between alfalfa hay, corn silage and soybean pod shell. In conclusion, corncob and soybean pod shell can be used as unconventional forage resources.

Key words: corncob, soybean pod shell, dairy cow, ruminal degradability, nylon-bag technique