Comparative nutritional evaluation of fungus and alkali treated rice husk in rat

Abstract

Feeding trial was conducted with growing white albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) for 56 days to determine whether alkali (NaOH) or fungus (Mushroom) treatment of rice husk would affect rat's performance. The treated rice husk comprised 10% of the rat's diets, the rests of which were 50% maize, 20% soybeans, 19% sorghum brewer's dried grain (SBDG), 0.5% salt and 0.5% vitamin-mineral premix. Total dry matter intake was similar (p>0.05) among treatments. The crude protein and ether extract intake of diet B was significantly (p<0.05) higher than diets A and C. The total lignin intake ranked (p<0.05) B (20.36) > C (19.65) > A (17.06), and the acid detergent fibre intake was 20.01, 13.7 and 15.82 for control (A), B and C respectively. Live weight gain was greatest (p<0.05) for B, greater (p<0.05) for A than C while the growth rate (%) followed similar trend. Feed:Gain ratio ranked (p<0.05) B>A>C. The crude protein and ether extract digestibilities were increased (p<0.05) for the fungus treated sample. Treatment of rice husk with fungus (mushroom) increased the nutritive (crude protein and ether extract) value and as the feeding experiment demonstrated, is likely to be a useful method for pre-digesting agricultural waste residues for rumen microbial attack.

Keywords: rice husk, Pleurotus sajor caju, intake, digestibility

Moor Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 5(2) 2004: 129-134