Effect of Grinding and Pelleting upon Digestibility of a Ration by Lambs

In a digestibility experiment consisting of three trials, 12 wether lambs were individually fed the same ration in three different physical states: (1) natural (longhay, whole grain), (2) ground, and (3) ground and pelleted. The ration was composed of prairie hay, alfalfa hay, corn, cottonseed meal, and molasses. Grinding the whole ration lowered its digestibility. Pelleting the ground ration restored its digestibility to approximately the same level as observed with the ration in the natural state. The average apparent digestion coefficients for organic matter, crude protein, and crude fiber were significantly higher (P less than .01) for the pelleted ration than for the ground ration. Values for the apparent digestibility of organic matter, crude fiber, and nitrogen-free extract were significantly higher (P less than .01) than the combined values obtained with the ground and pelleted rations.