Table 2.
Wet chemistry analysis and digestibility1 (%) of pelleted diet provided to lambs during each feeding period with calculated metabolizable energy density (M/D) (±SE)
| Feeding period 1 | Feeding period 2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Composition | Low | High | |
| Dry matter (%) | 93 | 93 | |
| Organic matter (% DM2) | 92 | 92 | |
| Neutral detergent fiber (% DM2) | 32 | 26 | |
| Acid detergent fiber (% DM2) | 14 | 13 | |
| Crude protein (% DM2) | 17 | 17 | |
| Gross energy (MJ/kg DM2) | 17.8 | 18.4 | |
| M/D3 (MJ/kg DM2) | 11.3 ± 0.2 | 11.0 ± 0.1a | 10.4 ± 0.1b |
| Digestibility | |||
| Dry matter | 71.5 ± 0.9 | 71.1 ± 0.4a | 67.3 ± 0.4b |
| Organic matter | 68.3 ± 0.8 | 67.9 ± 0.4a | 64.5 ± 0.4b |
| Neutral detergent fiber | 47.3 ± 1.5 | 44.8 ± 1.3 | |
| Acid detergent fiber | 36.5 ± 1.4 | 41.9 ± 1.8 | |
| Crude protein | 72.7 ± 1.1 | 74.7 ± 0.5a | 68.8 ± 0.5b |
| Gross energy | 71.7 ± 1.1 | 69.9 ± 0.5a | 65.7 ± 0.5b |
1No significant difference in diet digestibility between low and high feeding level in period one.
2Dry matter.
3Calculated by direct measurement and using value for methane (CH4) production of 20.8 g CH4 per kg dry matter intake (Charmley et al., 2015) and gross energy of urine calculated using the equation of Blaxter et al. (1966): 9.66 kcal/g C—3.0 multiplied by 0.004184 to convert to MJ.