In vivo nutritive value of rice feed for sheep and its application for cattle feed

The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritive value of polished rice (PR) vs unpolished rice (UPR) as a potential feedstuff for sheep in order to use as a replacer to corn in sheep diet, and as well as to present the application in the formulation of cattle diet. Six corriedale ewe were randomly assigned to each treatment. UPR and PR were provided as a dietary treatment together with timothy grass as a basal diet in a crossover design for two period with 15-d duration for each period. The ratio of experimental and basal feeds were 33.3% and 66.7%, respectively. The differences in the total digestible nutrient (TDN) contents between sheep and cattle was determined according to the references. The number of data collected sheep and cattle was 9 and 17, respectively. The PR showed higher nutrients digestibility than UPR. Similarly, higher TDN content was observed PR than UPR (p < 0.05). As a result, the replacement of corn in the formulate feed with UPR and PR feed rice could be possible with the ratio of 91.2% and 100.0%, respectively. The result of comparation the TDN contents of UPR and PR in sheep and cattle, the PR has no difference in the nutritive value which suggests the applicability of the results of sheep to cattle. On the other hand, UPR has known to have different nutritive value between sheep and cattle, so caution should be taken when preparing formula feeds for cattle.