Rumen Degradation Characteristics of Multinutrient Blocks in Semi-Arid Region of Nigeria

An investigation was carried out on eleven different multinutrient blocks in the semi-arid region of Nigeria. Three crossbred steers fitted with permanent rumen cannula were used to evaluate the nutritional value of multinutrient blocks using the nylon bag techniques. A randomized design was employed to determine the ruminal degradability of multinutrients and their effect on rumen ecology. Approximately 5 g of the feed sample were weighed into duplicated nylon bags (45 μ pore size) and incubated ruminally at 0, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h-post feeding. The results showed that the mean values of the ruminal temperature (38.7 °C) and pH (6.6) were not different (p > 0.05) among different incubation. All the multinutrient blocks recorded above 59% DM degradability at 48 h period of incubation. The mean values for the potential degradation of the multinutrients were generally high and ranged from 83.2% to 95.8%. It was concluded that inclusion of multinutrients in the diet of ruminants result in a significant improvement in DM degradation in the rumen.