Nutrients In situ Degradability of Almond Hulls and Cucumber Wastes from Greenhouse

Abstract

Aims: Information about degradability of nutrients, effective degradability (ED) values and digestion kinetics of agricultural wastes is important for feed manufacturing industry and farmers performing feed mixing practices who currently rely on nutritive values published by research institutions. Almond hull (AH) and cucumber plant (CW) were evaluated for ruminal dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradation kinetics. Methodology: Duplicate bags containing 3 g ground raw material each were incubated in the rumen of two ruminally cannulated Assaf rams for 4, 8, 16, 24, 48 and 72 h. Rate and extent of ruminal degradation were estimated. Results: Significant effects of byproduct type were observed in rapidly soluble and potentially degradable fractions, and degradation rates of DM, CP, ADF and NDF. The rapidly soluble DM, CP, ADF and NDF fractions were 16.10, 15.2, 10.64 and 14.06% for CW, and 7.21, 6.64, 6.00 and 5.62% for AH. The potentially degradable DM, CP, ADF and NDF fractions, respectively, were 55.82, 62.30, 49.40 and 55.09% for CW, and 47.61, 44.26, 46.34 and 48.53% for AH. The DM, CP, ADF and NDF disappearance in CW were higher (P < 0.05) compared to those in AH. Similarly, the effective degradability (ED) of DM, CP, ADF and NDF in AH were higher compared to AH (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The new data presented in this study could be useful for the purposes of ration formulation and ruminants’ performance. Considering these findings, one can propose using both byproducts, together or separately as part of ruminant rations. It can be introduced in these rations as part of roughage (wheat and barley straw). CW can be incorporated in ruminant rations as part of better quality roughage (legume hay).