This study was conducted to measure the intake; nutritive value and digestibility of peanut hay (Arachis hypogaea L.). Fourteen Holstein heifers (BW= 408 plus/minus 32 kg; Age = 15.4 months plus/minus 0.5) were randomly allocated to two diets: peanut hay (PH) and corn silage (CS) adlibtum for 26 days. The PH consisted of 66:34 forage: concentrate (F:C) and CS diet contained 57:43 F:C ratio. Peanut hay at 91.8% DM contained 8% CP, 64% NDF, 51.9% ADF and 8 % ash. DMI and CP was not different across the treatment diets (P>0.05). NDF and ADF intake was different between the diets with PH being greater (P<0.01). Feed Efficiency using the feed to gain ratio was different across the diets (P<0.0001). Dry matter digestibility was 75.37% for CS diet and 68.53% for PH diet. Peanut hay basal diets formulated to contain low F:C ratio can increase growth in dairy heifers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-3757 |
| Date | 07 May 2016 |
| Creators | Phiri, Diniwe Grace |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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