title: The effect of dietary ratios of corn silage and alfalfa hay on carbohydrate digestion and retention time of feed particles in the gastrointestinal tract of steers.
abstract: Four Holstein steers fitted with duodenal cannula were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square design to investigate the effect of the combination of corn silage (CS) and alfalfa hay (AH) in different ratios on the ruminal and intestinal digestion of carbohydrates and feed particle passage rate. Steers were fed mixed diets containing both CS and AH in ratios of 80:20, 60:40, 40:60 and 20:80 on a dry matter basis at 95% of ad libitum feed intake. The increase of AH proportion in diets increased dry matter intake and ruminal digestion of dry matter, non-fiber carbohydrate, neutral and acid detergent fiber linearly. Ruminal digestibility of neutral detergent fiber showed a quadratic response, and total digestibility increased linearly with increasing AH proportion. Digestibility of acid detergent fiber in the rumen was not affected by the dietary treatments, but the total tract digestibility increased as the AH proportion increased. Mean retention time of feed particles in total compartment increased when the AH proportion increased from 20% to 60%, but decreased with further increase of the AH proportion. These results indicate that moderate combinations of CS and AH have an associative effect on ruminal fiber digestion, modifying particle movement in the rumen.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Higashihiroshima, Japan. tobitsu@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Taketo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Obitsu
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Toshihisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugino
authors.forename: Kohzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Kenichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yukizane
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Imoto
authors.forename: Mirei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yanagawa
authors.forename: Mabrouk
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El-Sabagh
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000378:metabolism*; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary*; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000378:metabolism*; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000378:metabolism; D004063:Digestion / Q000502:physiology*; D005772:Gastrointestinal Transit / Q000502:physiology*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D000455:Medicago sativa / Q000378:metabolism*; D012417:Rumen / Q000378:metabolism*; D012820:Silage; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004043:Dietary Fiber