The utilization of faecal inoculum in in vitro technique: The investigation of the digestibility of NDF and ADF of Napier Grass (Pennisetum purpureum)

The aim of this study was to reveal the effect of faecal inoculum on the in vitro digestibility of acid detergent fibre (ADF) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) on Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) (PP). Samples of Napier grass were incubated for 96 h following the first step of the Tilley and Terry in vitro technique. The treatments included liquor inoculum, faecal inoculum (FI), FI added with sugar of 2.5 % (w/v), FI added with sugar of 2.5 % (w/v) and urea of 2.5 % (w/v) and FI added with urea of 2.5 % (w/v) for treatment A, B, C, D and E respectively. The design of this experiment was a Completely Randomized Design (5 x 4) with five treatments and four replications. Results of this study showed that faecal inoculum significantly (P<0.05) decreased the digestibility of Dry matter (DM), ADF and NDF of Napier grass. The use of faecal inoculum (treatment B, C, D and E) showed the lower digestibility of ADF and NDF than those of using the rumen liquor. It might be conclude that the addition of sugar or and urea in the faecal inoculum could not increase the digestibility of DM, ADF and NDF of Napier grass.