DRY MATTER DIGESTIBILITY, VFA AND NH₃ PRODUCTION IN VITRO OF SHEEP RATIONS SUPPLEMENTED SWEET ORANGE WASTE

Elvia Hernawan, Lovita Adriani, U. Hidayat Tanuwiria

Abstract
    The nutrients content of sweet orange waste are high but it never fully utilized, especially in animal feed industries in Indonesia. Besides, the sweet orange waste also contains high active components such as antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, etc. Meanwhile there is a part of sheep rumen that has a strategic function in transforming raw fiber into various fermentations which are conducted by rumen microbes. The active components in sweet orange waste are predicted to affect digestive process in rumen.This research was aimed to obtain information about digestibility of dry matter, VFA and NH₃ in sheep ration with sweet orange waste addition. The research was conducted using a completely randomized design with 4 treatments SOW level in the ration , i.e. 0 , 6 , 9 , 12 % and 5 replicates, so there are 20 units of study. The variables measured were dry matter digestibility, production of Volatile fatty acids (VFA) and NH3. The result showed that the provision of SOW above 6% resulted declining trends of dry matter digestibility values, VFA production and NH₃ production, but the four treatments (0, 6, 9, 12% SOW) were not significantly different statistically. In conclusion, provision of sweet orange waste in the ration up until 12% gives same effect on the value of dry matter digestibility, VFA and NH₃ production.

Key words: Sweet Orange Waste (SOW), in vitro, digestibility, VFA, ammonia (NH₃)