Influence of replacing rice straw with wormwood ( Artemisia montana) silage on feed intake, digestibility and ruminal fermentation characteristics of sheep

• Published in: Animal feed science and technology Vol. 128; no. 1; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Kim, S.C., Adesogan, A.T., Kim, J.H., Ko, Y.D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.01.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal productions; Artemisia; Artemisia absinthium; Artemisia montana; Biological and medical sciences; Digestibility; dry matter content; experimental diets; Feed and pet food industries; feed intake; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Microbial N; Oryza sativa; rice straw; Rumen fermentation; rumination; Sheep; sheep feeding; silage; Terrestrial animal productions; Vertebrates; Wormwood silage; Montana; United States; North America; America; EE; aNDF; ADF; HWS; Rumen fermentation; MWS; DM; LWS; EO; CP; Microbial N; VFA; BW; Wormwood silage; Sheep; WS; OM; Digestibility; Farming animal; Digestive system; Animal feeding; Rumen; Fermentation; Straw; Vertebrata; Meat animals; Mammalia; Silage; Cereal; Influence; Artiodactyla; Ungulata; Rice
• ISSN: 0377-8401; 1873-2216
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2005.09.011

An experiment was conducted to examine feed intake, apparent digestibility, N balance and ruminal fermentation characteristics of sheep fed diets containing increasing levels of wormwood ( Artemisia montana) silage (WS). The experimental design was a 4 × 4 Latin square with four sheep in four 20 day periods. Sheep were fed a diet consisting of 700 g/kg DM rice straw, wormwood silage mix and 300 g/kg DM concentrates, and allotted to one of four treatments in which wormwood silage replaced 0 g/kg DM (Control), 50 g/kg DM (LWS), 100 g/kg DM (MWS) and 150 g/kg DM (HWS) of the rice straw. Intakes of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fibre (aNDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) increased quadratically (P<0.01) as the dietary WS level increased. The digestibility coefficients of DM (P<0.01), OM (P<0.05), CP (P<0.01), EE (P<0.001) and ADF (P<0.01) linearly increased with increasing dietary WS level. Nitrogen intake, microbial N yield, and efficiency of microbial N synthesis linearly increased (P<0.001) as the dietary WS level increased. Furthermore, rumen pH was linearly decreased (P<0.05), while rumen NH 3-N (P<0.01) and total VFA (P<0.05) concentrations were linearly increased as the dietary WS level increased. Acetic acid concentration was not affected by increasing the level of WS substitution, but propionic (P<0.001) and butyric acid (P<0.05) concentrations increased quadratically, while the ratio of acetic acid to propionic acid decreased quadratically (P<0.001). Substituting rice straw with up to 150 g/kg DM of wormwood silage improved feed intake, digestibility, N retention and microbial N yield in finishing sheep.