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EFFECT OF SOME GREEN‐CROP‐DRYING PROCESSES ON THE DIGESTIBILITY AND VOLUNTARY INTAKE OF HERBAGE BY SHEEP
Author(s) -
Marsh R.,
Murdoch J. C.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1975.tb01348.x
Subject(s) - pellets , agronomy , chemistry , zoology , food science , organic matter , biology , materials science , composite material , organic chemistry
The effect of artificial drying under commercial conditions on the digestibility and voluntary intake of herbage by sheep was studied, using either van den Broek (900°C inlet temperature) or Swiss Combi (1100°C inlet temperature) triple‐pass drum‐type driers. Organic‐matter digestibility of chopped dried herbage was 8·3, 5·8 and 5·3% lower than that of fresh herbage in Experiments 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Packaging chopped dried grass into ‘cobs’ caused a further reduction in OM digestibility of up to 2·8%. Pre‐milling plus packaging (i.e. ‘pelleting’) depressed OM digesti bility of chopped dried grass by 5 to 6 percentage units. Digestibility of dried grass in its various physical forms was further reduced when offered ad lib.; the greatest fall (9·4%) occurred with pellets and the smallest fall (0·8−1·3%) with loose chopped material; cobs were intermediate at 4·3−7·0%.