Digestion of Milo and Barley by Cattle

Digestion trials were conducted with cattle to determine the digestibility of rations high in milo and barley and all-milo and all-barley rations. In trial 1, in which the grain protein supplied over 90% of the ration protein, sufficient roughage was added to make a 7.5% crude fiber ration. The digestibility of the protein and nitrogen-free extract was significantly greater for the barley ration than for the milo. In trial 2 the protein digestion coefficients in all-milo and all-barley rations were 55.2 and 77.1% respectively, and corresponding values for nitrogen free extract were 79.3 and 90.8%. The total digestible nutrients for milo and barley on the all-grain rations were 75.3 and 84.9%, respectively. The lower digestibility of the milo nitrogen-free extract was apparently due to the lower digestibility of milo starch.