Effects of Dietary Crude Glycerin Supplementation on Nutrient Digestibility, Ruminal Fermentation, Blood Metabolites, and Nitrogen Balance of Goats

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of increasing concentrations of crude glycerin (CGLY) in diets on nutrient utilization, ruminal fermentation characteristics, and nitrogen utilization of goats. Four male crossbred (Thai Native×Anglo Nubian) goats, with an average initial weight of 26±3.0 kg, were randomly assigned according to a 4×4 Latin square design with four 21 days consecutive periods. Treatments diets contained 0%, 5%, 10%, and 20% of dietary DM of CGLY. Based on this experiment, there were no significant differences (p>0.05) among treatment groups regarding DM intake and digestion coefficients of nutrients (DM, OM, CP, EE, NDF, and ADF). Likewise, mean serum glucose, BHBA, and PCV concentrations were not affected (p>0.05) by dietary treatments, whereas serum insulin concentration linearly increased (L, p = 0.002) with increasing the amount of CGLY supplementation. Ruminal pH, NH3-N, and BUN concentration were unchanged by dietary treatments, except for 20% of CGLY, NH3-N, and BUN were lower (p<0.05) than for the diets 10% of CGLY, while the difference between the diets 0%, 5%, and 20% of CGLY were not significant. The amount of N absorption and retention were similar among treatments. Based on this study, CGLY levels up to 20% in total mixed ration could be efficiently utilized for goats and this study elucidates a good approach to exploiting the use of biodiesel production for goat production

Rumen characteristics and feed utilization in goats fed with biologically treated oil palm fronds as roughage in a total mixed ration

Six male crossbred (Thai Native x Anglo Nubian) goats, 33.5 ± 1.7 kg body weight (BW), were randomly assigned to a 3 x 3 replicated Latin square design to investigate the effects of fungal-treated oil palm fronds (FTOPF) on feed intake, digestibility, ruminal fermentation and nitrogen utilization. The treatments were untreated oil palm frond (UOPF; T1), fungal treated oil palm frond (FTOPF; T2) and fungal treated oil palm frond with urea 1% (FTOPFU; T3). The results revealed that voluntary feed intake was not significantly different among treatments, while digestion coefficients of nutrients (DM, OM, CP, NDF, and ADF) increased significantly with FTOPF. However, the mean ruminal temperature, pH, NH3-N, blood urea-nitrogen and amount of N absorbed and retained were similar among treatments. In conclusion, FTOPF could be included in total mixed rations without any adverse effect on feed intake, digestibility and rumen fermentation efficiency, suggesting that FTOPF could be used potential as an alternative roughage source for ruminants.Keywords: Agricultural by-product, digestibility, fungal treatment, Lentinussajor-caju, small ruminan

A study using Andrographis paniculata in diet on growth performance of Betong chicken: Starting period

An eight-week experiment was conducted to study using Andrographis paniculata (AP) on the growth performance of Betong chickens (0-8 weeks of age). Three hundred and fifteen head of 1 day old (mixed sex) betong chicks were randomly allotted to 7 dietary treatments, in a completely randomized design experiment. There were three replications in each treatment with 15 chicks per pen. The dietary treatments were 1) basal diet (control), 2) basal diet + 0.1% AP, 3) basal diet + 0.2% AP, 4) basal diet + 0.3% AP, 5) basal diet + 0.5% AP, 6) basal diet + 0.6% AP and 7) basal diet + antibiotic 0.2%, respectively. The results showed no significant (P>0.05) difference among treatments in terms of weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion, mortality rate and feed cost when AP was included up to 0.1-0.3 % of the diet compared with basal diet and basal diet + antibiotic. However, at levels higher than 0.5% AP, it tended to lower growth performance and feed intake thus causing inferior feed conversion ratio. Feed cost was also dramatically increased with the increasing levels of AP in the diet. No significant difference in mortality rate was found among groups. The average mortality was 1.37%

Effects of Elevated Crude Glycerin Concentrations on Feedlot Performance and Carcass Characteristics in Finishing Steers

Twenty crossbred steers (400±40.1 kg of initial body weight) were used to assess the effects of a dietary supplementation with crude glycerin (CG) as a substitute for corn grain on performance, carcass traits, and meat quality. Four isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets were offered to the experimental animals (5 steers per treatment) for 121 days using randomized complete block design. The steers individually received dietary treatments containing 0%, 7%, 14%, and 21% of CG (88.91% pure) on a dry matter (DM) basis. The diets were offered ad libitum as total mixed rations twice daily. Weight gain and carcass traits were determined. At the end of the experimental period, the harvest data and carcass characteristics of the steers were recorded, and meat quality was determined. No significant effect of CG inclusion was observed in any of the growth performance and carcass characteristics traits studied. Also, there were no apparent effects of diets (p>0.05) on meat quality (pH, water holding capacity, drip losses, and cooking losses). The study concluded that CG could be used as a substitute for corn grain up to the level of approximately 21% of DM in the diets of finishing steers