Effects of electron beam irradiation and fibrolytic enzyme on the chemical composition and ruminal degradability of the palm leaves

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of electron irradiation (EI) and fibrolytic enzyme (FE) on chemical composition and rumen degradation of palm leaves (PL) in a completely randomized design with factorial (2×2) arrangement include 2 levels of irradiation ( 150 and 300 KGy) and enzyme (1.5 and 3 gr/kg dry matter of samples). For this purpose, at first 5 g of milled sample was incubated for 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours in the rumen of two Sistani bull with rumen fistula and degradability parameters estimated using nylon bags method. Based on the results, The EI and FE had no significant effect on dry matter, ether extract and crude protein. Treatment separately and together caused a significantly decreased (p < 0.01) NDF and ADF. Also, the rapid and slowly degraded fraction and effective degradability of dry matter significantly increased with increasing irradiation dose and enzyme levels (p < 0.01). EI along or with the FE had an effective role in improving the nutritional value and degradability of palm leaf. Considering that the best results were obtained in the simultaneous use of EI of 300 KGy and 3 g/kg of FE, the simultaneous use of these two levels were effective in order to improve the digestibility and degradability of palm leaves.