THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF SUGAR CANE (SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM ) TOPS

C. DEVENDRA

SUMMARY

The nutritive value of sugar cane tops (SCT), one of the by-products from sugar cane cultivation was determined from balance studies using indigenous sheep. In treatment 1, SCT was fed ad libirum and treatment 2 involved feeding SCT supplemented with 10 per cent molasses and 2.9 per cent of feed grade urea. There were statistically significant differences (P<0.05) in the intake of fresh and dry matter (P<0.05) and in the apparent digestibility of crude protein (P<0.05) which with urea supplementation reached 41.0 per cent. The corresponding N retention was 17.8 per cent. Except for Mg, Ca and P were in negative balance. The nutritive value of SCT was 0.7 per cent digestible crude protein (DCP), 55.8 total digestible nutrients (TDN), 10.29 MJ /Kg digestible energy (DE) and 8.44 metabolisable energy MJ/Kg(ME).

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