Acceptability, body weight changes and digestibility of spent wheat straw after harvesting of Pleurotus sajor-caju

Abstract Wheat straw was used as substrate for the production of fruiting bodies of Pleurotus sajor-caju and the spent straw left after harvesting was evaluated as feed for lambs. Comparative studies of voluntary-intake and body weight changes using raw and spent straw rations indicated similar behaviour. In vivo digestibilities gave similar values for dry matter and organic matter (52–55% and 55–58% respectively). The in vitro dry matter digestibilities (25-18% enzymatic and 56-49% ruminal) did not correlate well with the in vivo results.