| dc.description.abstract | Palm press fiber (PPF) can be used as an alternative forage for ruminants. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the nutritive value of PPF fermented by Pleurotus ostreatus and to evaluate the potency of the fermented PPF (PPFm) to replace elephant grass as a component of ration for rams. A randomized block design experiment was used to allocate randomly three experimental rations into four groups of twelve rams. Rams have an average of initial life weight of 23.32 ± 1.68 kg. The experimental rations consisted of R0 = 30% elephant grass (EG) +70% concentrate (control), R1= 15% EG + 15% PPFm + 70% concentrate and R2= 30% PPFm + 70% concentrate. Dry matter consumption, digestibility, blood profile and blood cholesterol were observed. The results showed that there were no differences in dry matter consumption, digestibility, blood profile and blood cholesterol of rams, except the leukocytes count showed a decrease with increasing number of additions PPFm in the ration (P<0.05). It was concluded that fermentation using Pleurotus ostreatus increased the nutritive value of PPF and the inclution of 30 % PPFm in the ration of rams could replace the elephant grass, can increase the immunity of rams characterized by increasing levels of blood lymphocytes to 22%, which is supported by increase in the metabolic performance of rams. The use of PPFm in the ration of 15% more efeective in lowering blood cholesterol sheep to 27,04%. | en |
