Use of the gas production and nylon bag techniques for measuring the digestibility of two range species, Phloem pratensis & Paspalum dilitatum

This research has been conducted to evaluate digestibility, degradability of dry matter and protein contents of two rangeland species, Phloem pratensis and Paspalum dilitatum by Nylon Bags and Gas Production methods. A randomized complete design with three fistulated sheeps with three replications and two treatments were used to conduct the research. The data were analyzed by dependent t-test and GLM. According to the results, crude protein was significantly different between P.dilitatum (13.8%) and P.pratensis (8.6%), while Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) and Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) did not show significant differences. Digestibility and degradability of dry matter and Protein in P.dilitatum was more than P. pratensis in the all incubation times by Nylon Bags and Gas Production methods. Nylon Bags and Gas Production Methods indicated a high correlation with degradability of dry matter and Protein, (93%) and (95%) respectively, and showed that the Gas Production Method could be supersede to Nylon Bags Method for degradability of forage. The results revealed that quality of P.dilitatum with crude protein (13.8%), degradability of dry matter (84.32%) and protein (93.14%) is more than P. pratensis with crude protein (8.6%), degradability of dry matter (62.7%) and protein (78.5%) statistically. Moreover, the two species could provide some part of livestock ration.