In a pilot experiment, ten sheep were used to study the possibility of using water hyacinth as ruminant feed. The mean live weight of the animals was 40.5 kg and they were allocated in individual pens. Water hyacinth were fed (4.0 kg/d) once a day plus 300 g of a concentrate mixture. The mean intake was 3.6 kg of fresh water hyacinth per animal and the chemical analyses of dried material showed respectively, 10.00%, 15.96%, 16.28%, 2.65%, 47.29% and 17.84% for DM, CP, CF, EE, NNE and MM* The dry matter remaining in nylon bags after 48 hours incubation in the rumen of a steer was 55.29%. It was concluded that water hyacinth has potential as roughage source for ruminants, but further investigation needs to be done on harvesting and storage of fresh material.

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