The objectives of these experiments were to study the positive associative effects of supplementing barley straw-based diets with different levels of alfalfa hay on nutrient intake, rumen environment, and nutrient digestibility and to evaluate the minimal amount of alfalfa hay needed to produce such an effect in ewes. In experiment one, 15 Awassi ewes (®ve ruminally ®stulated; body weight ˆ 54 ...

Background Pyrolysis has attracted growing interest as a versatile means to convert biomass into valuable products. Wheat straw has been considered to be a promising biomass resource due to its low price and easy availability. However, most of the products obtained from wheat straw pyrolysis are usually of low quality. Hot soda extraction has the advantage of selective dissolution of lignin whi...

Both dietary fermentable carbohydrates and the availability of straw bedding potentially affect activity patterns and energy utilisation in pigs. The present study aimed to investigate the combined effects of straw bedding and fermentable carbohydrates (native potato starch) on energy partitioning in growing pigs. In a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, 16 groups of 12 pigs (approximately 25 kg) were...

An experiment was carried out to compare the effect of feeding posidonia australis as a non-conventional feedstuff with cereal straw for sheep maintenance; and to compare seagrass/chicken litter with lucerne hay and pasture for sheep production on a scale such as would be applicable to lot-feeding of sheep in the area of suthern Australia in case of short term feed scarcity. To approach this ta...

the experiment was conducted to study the effect of treatment of rice straw with urea and a urease containing midden soil on the chemical composition of treated rice straw, feed intake of the animals, nutrients digestibility, body weight gain, feed conversion efficiency and overall economy of feeding for a period of 105 days. twelve indigenous growing cattle (live weight 130.00±1.67 kg) were se...

The straw plait and hat industry provided considerable employment for women and children in south and west Hertfordshire in the nineteenth century, but was absent in much of the north and east. Many contemporaries felt it had a deleterious effect upon morality and the stability of the family, and its regional specificity within Hertfordshire allows these propositions to be tested through a comp...

Soil aeration is a crucial factor that regulates crop residue decomposition, and the chemical composition of decomposing crop residues may change the forms and availability of soil nutrients, such as N and P. However, to date, differences in the chemical composition of crop straw residues after incorporation into soil and during its decomposition under anaerobic vs. aerobic conditions have not ...

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate perennial ryegrass straw as a forage source for ruminants. Experiment 1 evaluated digestion and physiological variables in steers offered perennial ryegrass straw containing increasing levels of ergot alkaloid, lolitrem B. Sixteen ruminally cannulated Angus x Hereford steers (231+/-2 kg BW) were blocked by weight and assigned randomly to one of four tr...