Digestibility by Sheep of Diets of Citrus Pulp, Corn, or Soybean Mill Feed with Three Forages

Citrus pulp, ground corn, or soybean mill feed was fed at 10, 40, and 70% of dietary dry matter with a single forage in each of three experiments. Forages were corn silage, sorghum silage, and bermudagrass hay. Diets also contained soybean meal, dicalcium phosphate, and trace mineral salt and were fed to four sheep per diet at maintenance to measure digestibility. Digestibility of dry matter and nitrogen-free extract increased with each addition of grain. Digestibilities of crude protein of diets containing citrus pulp (69%) and ground corn (70%) were greater than for diets containing soybean mill feed (66%), and there was an improvement at the two higher percents of grain (71 and 70%) over the lower (64%). Digestibilities of ether extract were 78, 75, and 72% for the 10, 40, and 70% grain. Although differences were small, each was significantly different. Digestibility of crude fiber with ground corn diets varied by forage combinations while it increased with each addition of citrus pulp and soybean mill feed.