Effect of fermentation on the in vitro protein digestibility of pearl millet

Two pearl millet genotypes, Madelkawya and Population 1/Shambat, were used in this study. Investigation showed that the dry matter, ash, crude fibre, crude fat, crude protein and starch contents for Madelkawya cultivar were 92.5, 2.1, 2.8, 7.8, 13.6 and 63.2%, respectively, and for Population 1/Shambat were 92.7, 2.4, 3.2, 6.7, 12.5 and 64.9%, respectively. The two cultivars were fermented for 14 h and the pH, crude protein and in vitro protein digestibilities were determined at 2 h intervals. The results indicated that there was a gradual reduction in pH with increase in time, a marginal change in the protein content and a highly significant (P⩽0.05) improvement in the in vitro protein digestibility for both cultivars.