Determining Nutritive Value of Alfalfa hay and Wheat straw from East Azerbaijan province

This study was conducted to determine nutritive value of common animal feed sources in East Azerbaijan province including second cutting of alfalfa hay (N=35) and wheat straw (N=26). Chemical composition and mineral contents of alfalfa hay and wheat straw were determined according to standard methods. Then the average chemical compositions of these samples were compared with those of the Gilan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah samples and the National Research Council (NRC) data. The results demonstrated that the mean dry matter (DM) content of alfalfa hay and wheat straw were 942.4± 5.6 and 948.7 ± 6.5 g/kg, and mean crude protein (CP) concentrations were 158.6 ± 11.4 and 40.7 ± 4.8 g/kg of dry matter, respectively, that showed a significant difference with NRC data. Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) content of alfalfa hay was 347.5 ± 51.5 g/kg and Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) of alfalfa hay and wheat straw were 447.3 ± 39.2 and 703.1 ± 5.55 g/kg, respectively; that showed no significant difference. The content of calcium in the alfalfa hay was 13.9 ± 3.5 g/kg that revealed no significant difference with the NRC data. The calcium concentration of wheat straw was 5.7 ± 1.4 g/kg, that differed significantly with the NRC data. The gross energy of alfalfa hay and wheat straw were 4100±154 and 3981± 126 kcal/ kg, respectively. In conclusion, it is recommended that agricultural managers in regional programming, farmers and feed manufacturers in balanced feed formulation use this data.