Table 2.
Effects of including sorghum–sudangrass silage (SS) in the diet on rumen fermentation parameters of Hu sheep
| Items1 | Treatment groups2 | P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T0 | T1 | T2 | ||
| pH | 6.26 ± 0.17 | 6.20 ± 0.13 | 6.08 ± 0.86 | 0.866 |
| MCP (mg/dL) | 7.23 ± 0.31 | 7.36 ± 0.48 | 7.23 ± 0.74 | 0.690 |
| NH3-N (mg/dL) | 3.01 ± 0.69b | 3.84 ± 0.46a | 2.97 ± 0.61b | 0.037 |
| TVFA (mmol/L) | 100.94 ± 12.49a | 89.51 ± 4.51 | 84.43 ± 4.85b | 0.017 |
| Acetate (%) | 72.42 ± 9.12 | 67.55 ± 2.39 | 62.89 ± 3.33 | 0.060 |
| Propionate (%) | 25.31 ± 2.77 | 23.14 ± 1.77 | 22.13 ± 2.48 | 0.131 |
| Butyrate (%) | 18.82 ± 2.21 | 15.08 ± 1.38 | 15.48 ± 3.28 | 0.053 |
| A/P | 2.86 ± 0.20 | 2.93 ± 0.18 | 2.89 ± 0.43 | 0.933 |
1MCP, Microbial protein; TVFA, Total volatile fatty acids; A/P, Acetate-to-propionate ratio
2T0: Diet contained whole-plant corn silage (WS) and wheat straw as roughage
T1: 50% of WS was replaced with sorghum-sudangrass silage (SS)
T2: 100% of WS was replaced with SS
abMeans within a row with different letters differ significantly (P < 0.05)