| Summary: | The aim of the research is to study the effects of offering forage by means of hung or not hung on the nutrient intake and digestibility. The background of the research was based on a field study showing that some farmers offer the forage feed by hanging it and some others by not hanging it. The research used 24 ewes aged 18 months, and were divided into three treatment grups namely, treatment 1 (T1), treatment 2 (T2) and treatment 3 (T3). Each group consisted of 8 goats and was divided into two sub groups (S1 and S2) consisting of four goats. The treatment 1 group (T1) was given peanut straw, ad libitum. The forage (peanut straw) feed was offered by hanging for TIS1 and not hanging for TIS,. In T2 group, the forage offered was peanut straw plus grass for T,S, and T,S, and for T2 the goats were given feed supplement of 100g (CP 23%). In T3 group, the forage offered was similar to T2, i.e. T3S, and T3S, but the goats were given supplement of 300 g (CP 23%). The experimental was designed in 3 x 2 factors (3 treatments and 2 methods of serving the forage). The feeds were offered for 8 weeks. In the 7th and 8th weeks, the sample of feed offer, feed refusal and the feces were collected daily. The variables observed were intake and digestibility of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), N-NDF (Nitrogen-NDF) and N-ADF (Nitrogen-ADF). The result showed that the nutrient intake of DM, CP, N-NDF, and N-ADF fractions in T2 was better when the forage was hung (T2S1) compared to when not hung (T2S2). However. for T3 the methods of serving had no effect. For T1, nutrient intake was better when the forage was hung (T1S1) (p<0.05). The nutrient intake was always higher when the forage was hung, the amount was, 60.85 (T1S2) vs 84.45 (T1S1) g/kg BW, for DM, 9.09 (T,S,) vs 11.41 (T1S1) g/kg BW for the CP, 0.43 (T1S2) vs 0.52 (T1S1) g/kg BW for N-NDF and 0.35 (T1S2) vs 0.43 (T1 S,) g/kg BW for N-ADF. There was a significant difference in intake (p<0.05) when a supplement of 100 g daily was added, namely 52.10 (T2S,) vs 72.01 (T2S1) g/kg BW for the intake of DM, 7.89 (T2S2) vs 9.92 (T,S 1) g/kg BW for CP, 0.42 (T,S2) vs 0.51 (LSI) g/kg BW and 0.28 (T2S2) vs 0.36 (T2S1) g/kg BW for N-ADF. However, there were no significant differences when the goats were given additional supplement 300 g daily. Based on the observation it can be concluded that there is a tendency that when the forage is hung then the digestibility is slightly better than when it is not hung. The conclusion shows that when forage is hung then the digestibility and nutrient intake will be better. The improvement is equal only if the goat is given additional supplement of protein
resource of 300 g/day.
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