EFFECT OF BIODEGRADATION PERIOD ON THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND IN-VITRO FERMENTATION

ABSTRACT

Rice straw is high in energy this study was carried out to determine the effect of biodegradation period on the chemical composition, in vitro gas production and dry matter digestibility and post in vitro parameters of raw and biodegraded rice straw and palm oil sludge and their mixture in70:30 (R1) and 55:45 (R2) . The Dry matter (DM %) values for (R1) and (R2) showed no significant difference among the various biodegradation periods, but the highest values were in 2 weeks (R1) (95.25%) and the least in 6 weeks (R2) (94.00%). The crude protein CP values which ranges from 7.000% to 7.875% was highest in biodegradation period 2 and 4 weeks in (R1) and was least in biodegradation period 6 and 8 weeks in (R2). The gas volume produced at 24 hours of incubation show no significant different at the (R1) but at the (R2) significant variation existed among the biodegradation period with 8 weeks given the highest gas volume. In conclusion, fungal treated rice straw gave an increased in the CP and ash contents of the straw as a result of the proliferation of fungi during degradation, strain differences, length of fermentation and the physiological behaviour of the fungi.