THE EFFECT OF FEEDING TREATED RICE STRAW AND OIL PALM EMPTY FRUIT BUNCH ON GROWING PERFORMANCE OF SHEEP

I, Mohamad Noor1*, S.A. Syed Hussein2, M. Nurzillah1, A. Aswanimiyuni1, and B. Sabari

Malaysia has produced an abundant and varies of agricultural by-products. The main by-product available is from major crops especially oil palms such as empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) and rice straw (RS) from rice industries. Both of the by-products can be used as a feed for ruminants but only as a replacement for part of the forage in a ration because they have limited nutritive value. Various treatment methods have been used to improve nutritive value of rice straw including physical, biological and chemical treatments (1). The objective of this experiment is to evaluate the growing performance of sheep using treated rice straw and oil palm empty fruit bunch.