Intake and digestibility in diets supplemented with dehydrated cassava root

Abstract

An experiment was conducted using sheep fed Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum, Schum) supplemented with peeled and dried cassava roots as source of starch (0, 15, 30 and 45 % of the diet). Total organic matter intake reached a maximum with 30 % supplementation of cassava, deceasing with higher levels. The increase in the levels of starch was accompanied by a decrease in intake of hay and in a protein and cell wall digestibilities. Practically all the starch was digested in the gastro-intestinal tract.