Agronomic and In Vitro Quality Evaluation of Dual-Purpose Cereals Clipped at Variable Ages and Their Utilization in Rabbit Feeding

Abstract

The present study included two experiments; the first one investigated the forage productivity and in vitro quality of a single cut taken at different plant ages (45, 60, and 75 days after sowing—DAS) from four prominent cereal crops, namely, barley, oat, triticale, and ryegrass, grown during two successive winter seasons in Northern Egypt. In addition, the effect of plant age at forage removal on the crop’s regrowth ability and final grain yield was quantified. The second experiment studied the biological in vivo effects of the four crops’ hay cut at the optimum plant age on growth performance, feed utilization, and apparent nutrients’ digestibility of growing rabbits. Despite the progressive increase in the fresh and dry matter yields produced from the four crops with later forage removal and the relatively high quality of the forage removed at 45 DAS, 1st experiment concluded that forage removal at 60 DAS produced a reasonable amount of fresh and dry matter yields with appropriate in vitro quality. Meanwhile, the gain in forage yield, when forage was removed at 60 DAS, was enough to compensate for the consequent reduction in grain yield of the four evaluated crops. The inclusion of variable percentages (0, 10, and 20%) of the four tested crops’ hay, when cut at 60 DAS, in the rabbit’s diet (2nd experiment), resulted in non-significant variations in the rabbit’s final body weight. Meanwhile, regardless of the percentage, the rabbits that were fed on diets including ryegrass hay and barley hay had the highest significant daily weight gain. The best feed conversion ratios were obtained by the rabbits that were fed on diets containing 10 and 20% ryegrass hay as well as 20% triticale hay. The highest dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein digestibility coefficients were obtained by both groups of rabbits that were fed on diets containing 20% ryegrass hay and barley hay. The inclusion of any of the four crops’ hay in the rabbits’ diet resulted in significantly higher digestibility coefficients for all nutrients compared to the control rabbits except for ether extract digestibility. Among the four evaluated crops’ hay, ryegrass hay was found to have an outstanding impact on the productive performance and digestibility of growing rabbits. In growing dual-purpose cereals, it is recommended to cut the crops at 60 DAS to achieve the optimum balance between forage yield and quality on the one hand and final grain yield on the other hand. Moreover, when cut at 60 DAS, the evaluated hay of the four crops was adequate to be included in the rabbits’ diet up to 20% substitution of the commercial fiber sources.