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The degradation characteristics of three Sri Lankan rice straw cultivars, following treatment with urea, assessed using three in vitro techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

G. Weerakkody ,
F.L. Mould ,
E. Owen  and
E.A. Butler
G. Weerakkody
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, The University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 237, Reading, RG6 6AR, U.K.
F.L. Mould
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, The University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 237, Reading, RG6 6AR, U.K.
E. Owen
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, The University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 237, Reading, RG6 6AR, U.K.
E.A. Butler
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, The University of Reading, Earley Gate, PO Box 237, Reading, RG6 6AR, U.K.
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Extract

In 1999 85 % of the milk and milk products consumed in Sri Lanka were imported at a cost of over 7000 m rupees. While this appears to offer a major opportunity for the national herd to improve production, indiscriminate deforestation, reduction of farm size and increased use of agricultural land for crop production has tended to depress both cattle numbers and production. Poor nutritional status of the animals is the major limiting constraint, caused by the inadequate supply of quality feedstuffs and confounded by the lack of advice from the poorly supported agricultural extension service. In addition little detailed information exists concerning the nutritive value of the majority of Sri Lankan feeds. Three in vitro techniques – the Minson and McLeod (1972) version of Tilley and Terry (T&T), the modified ANKOM (ANK) batch culture technique (Mould and Nordheim, 1998) and the RPT methodology (Mauricio et al., 1999) were compared in an effort to identify a suitable system to investigate Sri Lankan feeds. The degradation characteristics of rice straw were investigated in this study as, while nearly three-quarters of Sri Lankan cattle and buffaloes are reared in arid zone where rice straw is the major crop residue, only a small proportion is offered as feed.

Type
Poster Presentations
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2002 , 2002 , pp. 150
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2002

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References

Mauricio, R.M., Mould, F.L., Dhanoa, M.S., Owen, E., Channa, K.S. and Theodorou, M.K. 1999. A semi-automated in vitro gas production technique for ruminant feedstuff evaluation. Animal Feed Science and Technology 79: 312–330.Google Scholar
Mould, F.L. and Nordheim, H. 1998. Dry matter and NDF degradation profiles of roughages obtained using the ANKOM in vitro system. Occasional Publication No. 22, British Society of Animal Science 1998, pp 329–331.Google Scholar
Minson, D.J. and McLeod, M.N. 1972. The in vitro technique: Its modification for estimating digestibility of large numbers of tropical forage samples. Technical Paper No. 8, Division of Tropical Pastures, CSIRO, Australia.Google Scholar