Estimation of Digestibility of Straws of Different Barley Varieties Using in Situ Method

Abstract

Crop residues play a great role in feeding livestock. However, no emphasis has been given io improve its nutritional quality and availability through improving crop genetic materials. Crop breeders mainly strive to improve crop yield irrespective of the importance of crop residues as livestock feed. Digestibility study of crop residues of four different barley varieties, namely Lester, Kippen, Chaapais and Morrison was undertaken. The crop residues were ground at 2 mm size using Willy mill. The ground samples were incubated for 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours using nylon bags with a pore size of 40 f.im. The bags were immediately washed off with cool tap water and kept in the oven at 60°C for 24 hours. Dry Matter (DM) and Organic Matter (OM) disappearance rates were estimated using differences in DM and OM values between intact and rumen recovered straw samples. There is significant variation (P < 0.001) between barley varieties in terms of dry matter and organic matter digestibility straw barley variety Morrison had highest DM and OM digestibility while variety Chaapais had the lowest DM and OM digestibility. DM and OM disappearance rates of straws of all barley varieties increased as time of incubation from 0 to 96 hours. Generally, there was digestibility differences of straws among barley varieties. This indicates the importance of variety in using crop residues for livestock feed.