The effects of diets containing different roughages {alfaalfa hay, barley straw, barleystrow- hcl) on digestibility andn-retention in goats

Abstract

In this study, the effects of diets which contained alfaalfa hay (group 1), barley straw (group 2) or HCI- treated straw (group 3) as roughage and concentrated feeds (50 : 50) on digestibility andN-retention on goats were determined. At the end of the experiment, digestibilities were 70.95, 64.97 and 67.78 % for dry matter (P 0.05), 73.68, 78.86 and 79.34 %for crude protein (P 0.05), respectively. In general, the treatment of barley straw with HCI increased nutrient digestibility (P 0.05).