Digestibility and feeding value of some tropical grasses and kudzu.

Abstract

Samples of elephant grass, Pennisetum purpureum, lucuntu grass, Ischaemum timorense, para grass, Brachiaria purpurascens [Brachiaria mutica], Coastal Bermuda grass, Cynodon dactylon, and Guatemala grass, Tripsacum laxum, and 2 of kudzu, Pueraria phaseoloides, all grown in Surinam, were dried and taken to the Netherlands. Digestibility and feeding value were estimated with 3 wethers in experiments with preliminary and collection periods each of 10 days. Moisture, ash, crude protein and crude fibre were estimated and N-free extract with fat was calculated by difference. Digestibility was low, especially for the 2 samples of kudzu. Low digestibility of protein was thought to be due in part to artificial drying. There was a close correlation between crude protein and digestible crude protein in earlier experiments and the calculated regressions were applied to the grasses in this experiment, as well as to a number of other roughages. In the tropical grasses there was a good correlation between crude protein and digestible crude protein and a less marked one between crude protein and starch equivalent.-E. Sidaway. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)