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Ruminant Digestion without Roughage

Division of Animal Husbandry, University of California, Davis, California

ABSTRACT

Digestion trials were conducted with Holstein heifers that had been fed for 18 months on a ration devoid of roughage, and with a second group receiving the same diet plus paper pulp. The effect of fine grinding on digestibility was also investigated.

Except for crude fiber, which was 32 per cent lower, the digestibility of a ration consisting entirely of concentrates was not significantly below the calculated value for the same mixture fed with roughage.

The addition of paper pulp to the concentrate diet, so that the fiber content of the ration was equivalent to that of one containing equal parts of concentrates and alfalfa hay, increased the apparent digestibility of the crude fiber. The digestibility of the other nutrients did not appear to be significantly altered.

It is not to be concluded that the addition of paper pulp enhanced the digestibility of the fiber contained in the concentrates. The higher value found for fiber in the paper-pulp ration may be explained by the fact that the fiber of paper pulp, as shown by other investigators, is more highly digestible than that of either roughage or concentrates.

Fine grinding appeared only to lower significantly the digestibility of the crude fiber of the concentration ration.