Effect of NaOH Treated Wheat Grain based Diets on some Rumen Profile and Degradability of Alfalfa Hay

The experimentwas carried outto determine the effect ofNaOHtreatedwheat grain baseddietsondegradabilityofalfalfahayonrumenprofile.ThreeKivircikramsfittedwithrumencanulawere fedwith 3 diets containingwhole-wheat grain treatedwithNaOHat 0 (T ), 2.5 (T ) and 3.50 1(T2) % levels. Ash content of the diets T1and T2 was higher than that of diet T0but cellulosecontent ofthese dietswaslowerthan that of dietT . DietT increased (P<0.05)the degradability0 2of DM and organicmatter(OM) of alfalfa hay incubated at 4, 8, 16, 24 and 96 hours. Further, itincreased (P <0.01)the pHand lowered (P <0.01)total volatile fattyacids(VFA)levelsin rumenfluid without changing the NH – N levels. It was determined that diet T had much higherfractional rate (c) of the alfalfa hay DM degradability than did the T (c=0.043 and 0.034/h,respectively) and thisratewassimilarto that of dietT2(0.047)