Chemical composition and nutritive value of the feed used in feeding of cows in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

Information on nutritive value of locally available feed ingredients is scarce, therefore the study conducted in the laboratory of the Department “General Animal Husbandry” of the State Agrarian University of Moldova, was aimed at determining the chemical composition and nutrient content of various feeds and fodder species commonly used in the diets of dairy cowsraised in the University farm. Foddersamples, proceeding from different agricultural and ecological zones of the Republic of Moldova, were analyzed for their content of total moisture, dry matter, crude protein, fat, fiber, ash and NFE quantity and the data were compared with those available in the specialized literature. The comparative analysisshowed differencesin the content of a number of nutrients and large fluctuations were observed in terms of the level of oat nutrition units, energetic nutrition units and metabolizable energy contentin comparison with the data contained in normative references and used in the calculation of the nutritional value of feed and diets.