Chemical Composition, in vitro Gas Production and Ruminal Fermentation of Cottonseed Meal and Certain Conventional Protein Sources in Buffalo Inoculum

Abstract

Background: The price of conventional protein sources like soybean and peanut has increased markedly in recent years resulting in urgent need for exploring alternate protein sources. Due to increase in availability of cottonseed meal (CSM) in cotton-growing areas of India as compared to other oil seed meals, CSM is becoming one of the major components of concentrate mixture (CM) fed to animals. Methods: A study was undertaken to assess the chemical composition and in vitro nutritional worth of CSM in comparison to conventional oilseed cakes used in livestock feeding. Result: The CP content of protein sources varied from 47.85% in CSM to 47.76% in soybean meal (SBM). The net gas production (NGP, ml/g DM/24h) in CSM (160.48) was lower (P less than 0.05) than SBM (198.04) and MC (199.55). The metabolizable energy (ME, MJ/kg DM) was higher (P less than 0.05) in MC and lowest (P less than 0.05) in DMC. The partitioning factor (PF, mg/ml), OM digestibility (%), DM digestibility (%), NDF digestibility (%), efficiency of microbial mass production (EMMP, %), fermented CO2 was reported to be higher (P less than 0.05) in CSM compared to conventional oilseed cakes. The TVFA (mM/dl) production in CSM (6.63) was higher (P less than 0.05) than GNC (6.45) but lower (P less than 0.05) than SBM (6.97), MC (7.11) and DMC (7.25). The fermentation efficiency (FE, %) in CSM (74.70) and GNC (74.97) was higher (P less than 0.05) than conventional oilseed cakes. The VFA utilization index (VFA UI) was highest (P less than 0.05) in SBM (3.81) and lowest (P less than 0.05) in GNC (3.39). The results revealed that CSM has the potential to be used as a protein source for livestock feeding.