In Vitro Digestibility of Different Hydroponic Grain Sources and Use in Ruminant Feeding

Öz

Forage crops are an essential nutrient source in animal nutrition for meeting nutrient requirements and stimulating appetite as green forage. However, providing fresh forage to animals throughout the year is challenging or even impossible in our country. This situation, due to limited cultivation areas and insufficient yield per unit area, prevents the complete fulfillment of roughage and concentrate feed requirements of farm animals in terms of quality and quantity. This leads to productivity losses in animal production and increased feed costs. Therefore, various studies are currently being conducted to ensure the supply of green forage throughout the year. For this purpose, in this study, the nutritional composition (dry matter, ASH, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, NDF, ADF), in vitro digestibility parameters, and methane production levels of hydroponically produced forms of barley, wheat, corn, oat, and sorghum grains cultivated in the Niğde region were determined. Raw, room temperature-dried, and oven-dried forms of hydroponic grains were compared. Nutrient composition, energy values, in vitro gas production, pH, ammonia concentration, and methane production were evaluated to determine their suitability for ruminant nutrition. The findings revealed that although hydroponic grains provided high crude protein content (15.96-16.04%), organic matter digestibility (47.92-82.80%) and energy values (ME ranging from 7.59-12.59 MJ/kg DM) showed variability. Overall, the findings indicate that the suitability of hydroponically produced grains for ruminant nutrition depends on grain species and post-harvest processing method.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Forage crops
• Soilless farming
• Hydroponic production
• Ruminant feeding
• In vitro gas production
• Methane

Destekleyen Kurum

Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University

Proje Numarası

Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit under grant number TGT2021/21BAGEP

Etik Beyan

Ethics committee approval was not required for this study because of there was no study on animals or humans.

Teşekkür

The authors express their gratitude to the Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit for the technical support provided during the experimental and analytical phases of this study. This study was financially supported by the Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit under grant number TGT2021/21BAGEP.

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