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Chemical Composition and Ruminal Dry Matter and Crude Protein Degradability of Spineless Cactus
Author(s) -
Batista A. M. V.,
Mustafa A. F.,
Santos G. R. A.,
De Carvalho F. F. R.,
B. Dubeux J. C.,
Lira M. A.,
Barbosa S. B. P.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of agronomy and crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.095
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-037X
pISSN - 0931-2250
DOI - 10.1046/j.1439-037x.2003.00008.x
Subject(s) - cactus , dry matter , neutral detergent fiber , lignin , randomized block design , rumen , zoology , agronomy , composition (language) , chemistry , biology , botany , food science , fermentation , linguistics , philosophy
The objective of this study was to determine ruminal degradability of the dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) of 10 varieties of spineless cactus ( Opuntia spp.) grown in north‐eastern Brazil. Two ruminally fistulated steers were used in a randomized complete block design. Ash, CP, acid detergent fiber, and acid detergent lignin levels ranged from 10.4 to 13.3 %, 6.2–7.7 %, 19.8–24.8 % and 3.4–5.4 %, respectively. Relative to the other cactus varieties, Redonda had the highest (P < 0.05) in situ soluble DM fraction and effective DM degradability. No differences in effective DM degradability were observed between the other cactus varieties. In situ soluble CP fraction ranged from 1.7 % of CP for the 69 IPA/UFRPE variety to 11.1 % of CP for the Gigante variety. Slowly degradable CP fraction and its rate of degradation were similar among the cactus varieties (average 90 % of CP and 9 % h −1 , respectively). The cactus variety 69 IP/UFRPE had a lower (P < 0.05) effective ruminal CP degradability (ECPD) than the other varieties, which had a similar ECPD (average 66 % of CP). It was concluded that differences in ruminal degradability exist between cactus varieties, with more variations observed for ruminal DM than for CP degradability.