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Background: Ruminants and their products play an important role in providing food for many people. They are able to convert plants that cannot be digested by humans into usable protein for humans. New animal feed has been commonly developed for long years. To improve food production from ruminants, it is important to explore new feed sources. New or less exploited types of feed can replace or supplement traditional feeds in ruminant diets. Sesbania is a multipurpose plant that is cultivated for consumption as fodder and green manure. As a fast- growing plant, Sesbania has been mentioned as a food source to reduce feed costs. The food value of some of its species is equal to alfalfa and several other valuable plants. Due to proper digestibility, low fiber, and relatively high protein, it is possible to replace it with hay for livestock, especially small ruminants. In addition, as a tropical legume, Sesbania can easily withstand temperatures above 35°C, which are limiting for most legume plants, and grow well under salinity stress conditions if there is sufficient moisture in the soil. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate the nutritional value of Sesbania sp. L. for ruminants. Methods: The present research was carried out in the laboratories and teaching-research station of animal husbandry at the Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan. The experimental treatments included a control diet (without the Sesbania plant), 25, 50, 75, and 100% replacements of the Sesbania plant with alfalfa. The chemical compositions of the Sesbania plant, alfalfa hay, treatments, and other experimental samples, including crude protein, dry matter, ash, acid detergent fiber, and total tannin, were measured by standard methods. The neutral detergent fiber was quantified with the usual method without using the alpha-amylase enzyme and sodium sulfite by removing ash. The amount of gas produced by the samples was recorded at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours after incubation, and gas production parameters, digestibility of organic matter, their metabolizable energy, ammonia nitrogen concentration, pH, and protozoa population of culture medium were estimated in the treatments. In the gas production experiment, rumen fluid was taken from the rumen of three male sheep fed with a forage-based diet at the maintenance level and before morning feeding using a stomach tube. Ruminal fluid was filtered with a four-layer cheesecloth, mixed, and transferred to the laboratory in a flask containing hot water at 39 °C. To count protozoa at the end of 24 hours, a sample was prepared from the gas culture medium and mixed with 10 ml of 10% formaldehyde, and protozoa were counted using a hemocytometer slide. The resulting data were analyzed with a completely randomized design. In the present experiment, the chemical composition, digestion, and fermentation of the Sesbania plant were also compared with alfalfa hay. Results: Compared to the control, Sesbania-containing diets replaced with alfalfa had significantly the lowest potential and gas production rate at all levels (P < 0.05). The comparison of the Sesbania plant and alfalfa hay showed that the potential and gas production rate of alfalfa were higher than that of the Sesbania plant. In the experimental diets, the partitioning factor, microbial biomass production, and microbial biomass production efficiency were higher at all levels of Sesbania replaced with alfalfa than the control diet, and the levels of 75% and 100% of Sesbania replaced with alfalfa had a significantly higher partitioning factor than the control and other treatments (P < 0.05). However, the truly degradable organic matter was not affected by the experimental treatments. The results of the comparison of the Sesbania plant and alfalfa hay showed that the partitioning factor, microbial biomass production, and microbial biomass production efficiency of the Sesbania plant were significantly higher than alfalfa (P < 0.05). The results of fermentation parameters after 24 hours of incubation showed that the pH of the rumen culture medium was not affected by the experimental treatments, but the ammonia nitrogen concentration was affected by the experimental treatments (P < 0.05), and the control treatment contained the highest ammonia nitrogen concentration. In the comparison of the Sesbania plant with alfalfa hay, the pH of the rumen culture medium was not affected by the experimental treatments, and the ammonia nitrogen concentration of the Sesbania plant was significantly lower than that of alfalfa hay (P < 0.05). The helotrich, entodinomorph, and cellulolytic protozoa population, and the total rumen protozoa population were the highest in the control treatment (29.33) and the lowest in the 100% replacement of the Sesbania plant with alfalfa hay (9.66). The results of the comparison of the Sesbania plant with alfalfa hay showed an increase in the population of Helotrich, Entodinomorph, and Cellulolytic protozoa and the total population of rumen protozoa in alfalfa hay, with a decrease in the population of the Sesbania plant. The results of in vitro digestibility indicated the highest digestibility of dry matter, NDF, and, ADF in the control treatment. The comparison of the Sesbania plant with alfalfa hay revealed that the digestibility of dry matter, NDF, and ADF of alfalfa was higher than that of the Sesbania plant. Conclusion: In general, the results of the present experiment demonstrate that the chemical composition and digestibility of the Sesbania plant are similar to alfalfa hay. Therefore, the Sesbania plant can be considered a suitable substitute for alfalfa hay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

Four-handed fifty lactating Holstein cows with mean body weight of, 597± 40 and 50±20 and days in milk body Condi from sure of 3.1±0.4 were blocked by parity and randomly assigned to 3 treatments. Each treatment had 3 pens and each pen had 50 cows. The experiment lasted for 60 days (10 days adaptation and 50 days collection period). Concentrate to forage ratio was 60 to 40 and alfalfa hay replaced with alfalfa silage. Dry mater intake, milk yield and composition did not changed significantly due to complete replacement of alfalfa hay with alfalfa silage. Milk urea nitrogen increased significantly (15.85 vs 14.69 mg/dl) when alfalfa silage was replaced with alfalfa hay. Rumen pH were similar in all treatments and higher than 6.0 of alfalfa silage diet. The result of this experiment indicated that in TMR based ration alfalfa hay can replaced completely with the alfalfa silage.