Improving the utilization of beech sawdust by sheep

Defibration following treatment with 1% H2SO4 as an impregnation agent increased the in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility of beech sawdust to 59.5%. Digestibilities of barley straw, wheat straw, maize stover and bagasse were also increased through defibration without prior chemical treatment. Increased DM degradability was also reflected in better digestibility of fibre components and volatile fatty acids (VFA) production. The inclusion of treated beech sawdust in the diet at levels of up to 20% had no negative effect on lamb performance. Studies with 15N labelled urea did not show clear positive effect on nitrogen utilization when sheep were fed the treated beech sawdust. Immobilized cellulase and the addition of branched-chain VFA significantly increased the in vitro degradation of treated beech sawdust. Methanol extract of treated beech sawdust had an inhibitory effect on the growth of Streptococus bovis and Lactobacillus plantarum and reduced in vitro fermentation of rumen fluid. (author). 15 refs, 3 figs, 10 tabs