Determining Nutritive Values of Alfalfa Cuts Using in situ and Gas Production Techniques

Abstract

In order to determine of nutritive value of alfalfa in different cuts using in situ and gas production technique, this study was carried out. Three wethers (49±2.6 kg) were used in in situ method. The gas production was measured at 2,4,6,8,12,16,24,36,48,72 and 96 h and ruminal dry matter and crude protein disappearance were measured at 0,4,8,12,16,24,36,48,72 and 96 h. Dry matter degradability’s in first, second and third cuts of alfalfa at 96 h were 60.47, 64.71 and 64.36%, respectively. Crude protein degradability’s of mentioned cuts were 60.47, 63.08 and 58.07%, respectively. The gas productions of them at 96 h were 322.54, 295.21 and 300.32 mL g^-1 DM respectively. The relationship between dry matter and gas production values for alfalfa cuts obtained about 0.89, 0.85 and 0.84 and for crude protein and gas production data achieved 0.87, 0.88 and 0.84, respectively. High correlation between in situ and gas production techniques indicated that in situ degradability’s values can be predicted from gas production data.