An assessment of barley straw and oat hulls as energy sources for yearling cattle

Abstract

SUMMARYThree experiments, each consisting of a feeding trial plus a digestibility and nitrogen retention study, compared long barley straw with rolled barley as basal diets and oat hulls with maize starch as energy supplements for yearling dairy cattle. The protein ontent of the diets was varied by the addition of flshmeal.Growth rates were reduced by the dietary combination of high fibre and low protein, so that diets rich in straw, or containing a supplement of oat hulls, gave a large response to a supplement of fishmeal compared with low straw or maize starch supplemented diets. The data suggest a crude protein concentration of 115 g/kg dry matter as a requirement for high fibre diets supplemented with fishmeal, when fed to yearling cattle. Retention of nitrogen reflected the pattern of live-weight gain. Molar proportions of VFA were affected by changes in the roughage: concentrates ratio, except where energy and protein intakes were both low.Barley straw was of a higher nutritive value than oat hulls.