The effect of the extrusion of canola oilcake meal (COM) and crushed sweet lupins (CSL) with molasses on the dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP)  degradability was determined in situ. Locally sourced (SOILL Moorreesburg, South Africa) COM and CSL, with the addition of 6% molasses, were extruded  at a maximum temperature of 116 °C. A total of six Dohne Merino wethers (± 80 kg), fitted with rumen cannula, were used in this trial. Samples in  polyester bags (5 g) were incubated in the rumen of the sheep at intervals of 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 48 h. The DM and CP disappearances from the rumen  were determined and degradability parameters were estimated. Extrusion increased the potentially degradable CP fraction by 43.5%. At each outflow  rate, the average CP effective degradability of COM (68.2%) was lower than that of CSL (78.0%). Extrusion substantially lowered the CP effective  degradability for both protein sources at every outflow rate tested. The biggest effect was seen at 0.08/h, where effective degradation was lowered by  25.6%. Extrusion with molasses was found to modify ruminal degradation parameters of both canola oilcake meal and crushed sweet lupins, while also  decreasing the effective rumen degradation, especially at faster outflow rates. Thereby, the rumen undegradable protein fraction was increased by  85.4%. This study shows that COM and CSL extruded with 6% molasses can substantially increase RUP.

The value of feed protein sources in ruminant nutrition is measured by how effectively the protein is degraded in the rumen and converted into microbial protein. High-producing ruminants acquire high nutritional requirements to sustain their metabolic demands for production and performance. However, protein sources occasionally fall short in supplying the required amount of rumen undegradable protein and amino acids. Chemical treatment (formaldehyde) could be used to increase the efficiency of protein sources, which are highly degradable in the rumen. Canola oilcake meal (CM) and sweet lupin seed (SL) were treated with formaldehyde (40% w/v) at concentrations of 10 g/kg (F10) and 15 g/kg CP (F15). In this study, six Dohne Merino wethers fitted with rumen cannulas were used to determine the effect of formaldehyde treatment on the in situ dry matter and crude protein digestibility. The treatments entailed CM control (CMF0), CM treated with 10 g/kg CP formaldehyde (CMF10), CM treated with 15 g/kg CP formaldehyde (CMF15), SL control (SLF0) SL treated with 10 g/kg CP formaldehyde (SLF10) and SL treated with 15 g/kg CP formaldehyde (SLF15). Treatments were incubated in the rumen at time intervals of 0, 2, 4, 12, 36, 48, 72, and 96 hours. Overall, formaldehyde treatment significantly decreased rumen degradation at all outflow rates of both CM and SL. Therefore, formaldehyde treatment could be used to increase the rumen undegradable protein fraction. Potential improvement in animal performance in terms of live weight gain, average daily gain, and feed conversion efficiency has to be evaluated in production studies.