Dry matter and fiber fraction degradability of sugar cane treated with calcium oxide

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the parameters of ruminal degradation of dry matter, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber of the sugar cane treated with calcium oxide in the doses of 0; 1; 2 and 3 % (with basis of the natural matter). The samples were incubated in the rumen of three steers for 0; 6; 12; 24; 48; 72; 96; 120 and 144 hours, on nylon bags containing 2.5g of sugar cane treated with calcium oxide. There was 80.7% of potential degradability in dry matter for sugar cane treated with 3% calcium oxide. The results for degradable fraction for neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber in the 3% calcium oxide treatment were 59.7 and 59.9% respectively, while the cane without additive, showed values for neutral detergent fiber of 44.5% and 39.5% for acid detergent fiber. There was an increase in the parameters of dry matter degradability of fraction "a" of 37.5 vs. 46.8% of the cane without additive for cane sugar with a dose of 3% calcium oxide. For the acid detergent fiber degradability it was observed similar effect similar to the degradability of neutral detergent fiber, where the values of the potentially degradable "b" correspond to 64.2 and 68.7% respectively at a dose of 3% calcium oxide.