Abstract 497

Escobar,-A; Parra,-R; Parra,-O-de

Inst. Produccion Animal, Facultad de Agronomia, Univ. Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela.

Tropical-Animal-Production. 1984, 9: 1, 45-52; 20 ref.

Maize cobs were ground and untreated or treated with sodium hydroxide 20, 40 or 60 g/kg DM with a ratio of water to fibrous residue of 1.5:1. The material was ensiled at ambient temperature for 21 days with molasses 15, dried milk powder 10, urea 1.5 and mineral mixture 1% and given to 4 sheep/treatment. Measurements were made of voluntary intake, digestibility of chemical fraction and rate of fermentation of the treated maize cobs. The alkali reduced the cell wall content, increased the digestibility in vitro of organic matter and increased the rate of fermentation of the cell wall of the maize cobs. There were significant differences between feeds in voluntary intake (g digestible DM/kg0.75) and for the digestibility in vivo of the cell wall constituents, but not for the digestibility of cell contents which were, untreated, 39.2, 41.1 and 63.4, with NaOH 20 g/kg 49.2, 44.9 and 63.6, with NaOH 40 g/kg 65.2, 52.8 and 60.5 and with NaOH 60 g/kg 73.6, 64.8 and 63.7 respectively.