Nutritive Value and Chemical Treatment of Peanut Shell and Wheat Straw for Feeding Beef Cattle

For the purpose of evaluating the nutritive value of peanut shell, wheat straw and the typical ration, analysis was conducted on the nutrients of the roughage and ration, and determination was conducted on the digestion coefficient of ration with 5 male beef cattles, evaluation was conducted on the rumen degradation rate of dry matter(DM), crude protein(CP) of the roughage and ration with 3 cannulated goats and nylon bag technique. The peanut shell and wheat straw were treated with ammoniation method or complex chemical method. Compared with the untreated roughage, the ammoniated or complex chemical treated roughage was used to feed the beef cattle in different groups for 60 days. The result shows that the crude fiber content of peanut shell is higher than that of wheat straw. Both peanut shell and wheat straw have low levels of crude protein, higher degradation rate of DM and lower degradation rate of CP. For the typical ration mainly composed of peanut shell and wheat straw, the degradation rates are higher and stable for DM and CP, the digestion coefficients of DM, CP and crude fiber(CF) are 44.60%, 61.88% and 30.41% respectively. Ammoniation of peanut shell and wheat straw with 3.5% urea has a good effect on the beef cattle fattening. The effect of complex treatment with 3.5% and 4% Ca(OH)₂ is better than the simple ammoniation for peanut shell.