Ruminal degradability of oat (Avena sativum L.), Coast cross (Cynodon dactilon L.), and Esmeralda grass (Joysia japonica) hay pellet or not

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the ruminal degradability of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of the oat hay (OH), Coast cross hay (CCH), pellet Esmeralda grass hay (PEH) and Esmeralda grass hay (EH). The in situ technique was used, with four bovines, castrated, rumen fistulated, distributed in an Latin square 4x4 experimental design. The material was incubated in the rumen in the times 0, 6, 24, 48, 72 and 144 hours. There was no difference between hays on the degradation rate (c, %/h) for the CP, NDF and ADF. For the DM, the OH and PEH presented higher degradation rate. There was difference on the effective degradability (ED, %) of the hays, and the observed values were: OH, 48.74%; PEH, 42.44%; EH, 35.13%; CCH, 30.24%. It can be concluded that oat hay presented the highest values for the soluble fraction and for the ED of all nutrients evaluated. The pellet process of the Esmeralda grass resulted in higher ED of the DM and of the fiber, with no alteration on the CP ED.