[Effect of wood waste on the digestibility of glycides and level of volatile fatty acids in sheep].

Sheep were subject to an experiment concerning the effect of treated beech sawdust and thickened aqueous hydrolyzate of beech wood (xylocel) on the digestibility of glycides and on the level of volatile fatty acids (VFA) in the rumen content. The results prove that the use of treated beech sawdust as a replacer for ground barley straw favourably influenced the digestibility of monosaccharides, cellulose, lignin and total dry matter of the diet. Sawdust reduced the concentration of total VFA in the rumen content but the ratio of acetic acid to propionic acid (A:P) was lower and the energetic efficiency of the VFA produced was higher in the diet containing sawdust. The addition of urea to the diet with beech sawdust conditioned less effectively, as distinct from the case mentioned above, did not give a clear effect. Urea encouraged the digestibility of pentosanes, glucose and cellulose, but reduced the energetic efficiency of the VFA produced. Xylocel had no clear effect on the digestibility of sugars either. The higher A:P ratio and the lower energetic efficiency of the VFA produced testify to the fact that xylocel in combination with beet molasses was not a sufficient replacer of sugar-beet glycides.