Determination of nutritive value of sallow and service leaves using nylon bags and gas production techniques

This study was carried out to the determination of nutritive value of sallow and service leaves using nylon bag and gas production techniques in Gizel sheep. Two fistulated Gizel sheep with average body weight 35± 1.8 kg are used in a complete randomized design. The gas production was measured at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16,24, 36, 48, 72 and 96 hand ruminal DM and CP disappearance were measured at 0, 2, 4, 6,8, 12, 16, 24,36, 48, 72 and 96 h. Dry matter degrade abilities ofservice and sallow leaves at 96 h were 67.92 and 73.40%, respectively. Crude protein degradabilities of service and sallow leaves at 96 h were 79.91 and 82.02%, respectively. The gas production of service and sallow leaves at 96 h were 138.324 and 212.566 ml/g DM. The relationship between dry matter and gas production values for service and sallow leaves obtained about 0.99652 and 0.99039 and this parameter for crude protein and gas production achieved 0.98817 and 0.99443, respectively. High correlation between in situ and gas production techniques indicated that digestibility values could be predicted from gas production data.