Determination of Apparent and True Metabolizable Energy of Alfalfa meal for Ostrich via Chromic Oxide Marker and Total Collection Methods

This experiment was conducted to determine the AME، AMEn، TME and TMEn of Alfalfa meal for male ostrich at 90 d of age. Experiment was done as a completely randomized design with 5 treatments of 4 replicate and 4 chicks each. Different levels of Alfalfa meal (0، 15، 30 and 40%) were replaced to the basal diet. AME and AMEn were determined via chromic oxid marker and total collection methods. The AME and AMEn of alfalfa meal was 2250±274، 2522±110، 2044±268 and 2366±107 kcal/kg at 40 % of replacement that calculated via chromic oxide marker and total collection excreta respectively. Measurement of TME and TMEn of Alfalfa meal in this experiment calculated by the different levels of feedstuff and were 3165 and 2877 kcal/kg respectively. The result of this experiment showed that using the ME data which calculated via adult leghorn cockerel to formulating the starter diet of ostrich is not suitable and determination of ME via ostrich to using it in the formulation of their diets is necessary.