Soybean Straw Intake and Nutrient Digestibility by Sheep

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Abstract
Four soybean straw diets were fed to sheep in two changeover conventional balance trial experiments. Ad libitum intake was determined along with digestibility of dry matter, C. protein, CWC and ADF. The forages were collected from behind a combine, ground and mixed with a protein, mineral and vitamin supplement. The diets contained 67 to 72% CWC and 16 to 18% lignin. Dry matter digestibilities of the ground straw by difference averaged 40 and 41% for two cultivars. Nitrogen digestibilities were 30 and 46%. Both dry matter digestibility and ad libitum intake were increased significantly (P<.01) by pelleting or by collecting only the high-pod fraction coming off the lower sieves of the combine. Dry matter intakes ranged from 14.7 to 30.6 g/kg live weight. Copyright © 1978. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1978 by American Society of Animal Science