Digestible Nutrient Content


29.07 percent for protein, 50.14 percent for fiber, 40.19 percent
for nitrogen-free extract, and 64.70 percent for fat.
 As determined from the above composition and digestibility,
the Napier grass silage contained 0.34 percent digestible crude
protein, 13.05 percent digestible carbohydrates, and 0.44 percent
digestible crude fat, or a total of 14.38 percent digestible nutri-
ents. Per hundredweight of dry matter, this amounts to 1.05
pounds of digestible crude protein and 44.16 pounds of total
digestible nutrients.
 Digestibility of Crotalaria intermedia Silage.-The crop was
in the bud stage but rapidly becoming fibrous when it was
ensiled in an upright silo 10 feet in diameter and 20 feet high.
About half of the silage had been fed prior to the beginning
of the digestion trials, and several feet of silage remained at
the end. Thus, none of the silage near the surface that had
undergone excessive fermentation, nor that near the bottom
containing leachings from the upper part of the silo, was used
in the digestion trials. It was representative of the bulk of the
contents of the silo. Only one animal refused any portion of
the feed, E-51 leaving some coarse stems that were weighed
back, analyzed, and the nutrients deducted from the nutrients
offered. This occurred in each of the 5-day experimental periods.
 The average composition of the four 5-day composite samples
of silage, digestibility of the nutrients by each of the four steers,
and digestible nutrient content of the silage are given in Table 2.
Feed intakes per day, composition of the feeds, weight and
composition of feed refusal by E-51, weight and composition of
the feces, and digestibility of the nutrients by 5-day periods are
given in Appendix Tables A, B, C, D and G.
 TABLE 2.-THE COMPOSITION, COEFFICIENTS OF DIGESTIBILITY, AND
 DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS OF Crotalaria intermedia SILAGE.
 Dry Crude Crude N-free Crude J
 Matter Protein Fiber Extract Fat Ash
 Percent | percent I percent percent |percent I percent
Composition................. 27.13 3.30 12.52 8.34 0.77 2.20
 Steer
Coefficients of E-49 62.02 26.20 36.10 65.25
 digestibility..... ......... E-50 63.93 32.82 41.87 73.26
 E-51 65.79 40.09 45.16 61.69
 E-52 59.75 31.74 39.15 67.49
 Ave. 62.87 32.71 40.57 66.92
 T.D.N.
Digestible nutrients......' 2.08 4.10 3.38 0.52 10.72