Further Studies Concerning the Effect of Alfalfa Ash Upon the Utilization of Low-Quality Roughages by Ruminant Animals

Many workers (Burroughs et al., 1948; Swift et al., 1951; Chappel, 1952; Tillman et al., 1954a) have reported that alfalfa ash increased the digestibility and utilization by ruminants of rations containing ground corn cobs or cottonseed hulls. Brooks et al. 1954 reported that the addition of corn oil to sheep rations containing cottonseed hulls resulted in decreased digestibility of ration components and that this effect was counteracted by the addition of alfalfa ash, indicating that in many of the earlier works alfalfa ash may have exerted its beneficial effects by counteracting the detrimental effects of fat. The work reported herein was initiated to study the effect of added fats with and without alfalfa ash on the digestibility and utilization by cattle and sheep of rations containing ground corn cobs or cottonseed hulls. Trial 1, Growth. Twenty-four western-type wether lambs weighing 69 ± 10 lb. each were used in a 2×2 factorial design, the treatments being (1) basal, (2) basal plus 24 gm. corn oil daily, (3) basal plus 28 gm. alfalfa ash daily and (4) basal plus 24 gm. corn oil and 28 gm. of alfalfa ash daily. Each animal was fed once daily, in grams: corn sugar, 100; Drackett C-1 protein, 100; feeding grade dicalcium phosphate, 7.7; Vitamin A-D supplement,2 0.46, and cottonseed hulls, ad libitum. The concentrate portion of the ration was mixed with the approximate amount of cottonseed hulls the groups of animals would consume daily. Corn oil and alfalfa ash were also mixed into