Rumen protozoa of goat fed soybean hull

Abstract

Thirty-two cross-bred castrated male goats, were utilized in a completely randomized design to evaluate the effect of replacing corn with soybean hull at the level of 0%, 33%, 66% and 100%, on concentration and percentages composition genera of rumen ciliated protozoa. The control diet composed of forage cactus (30%), tifton hay (20%), concentrate mix (23.5% corn and 25.5% soybean meal) and mineral salt (1%). Animals were slaughtered after 76 days of feeding and ruminal contents were immediately collected. After counting and identification of genera, variance and regression analysis was accomplished of the variables and simple correlation between protozoa and chemical composition of diet was performed. The percentage of the generas Diplodinium, Dasytricha, Polyplastron, Diploplastron, Enoploplastron, Elytroplastron and the Holotricha subclass showed positive correlations with dietary NDF. Increasing the level of soybean hulls caused a reduction in the number of total protozoa and Entodinium, Entodiniomorphos, and increased the percentage of Dasytricha, Diplodinium, Diploplastron and Holotricha subclass.