Chemical Composition and in vitro and in vivo Digestibility of Tea Waste in Sheep

Tea processing includes several stages and in three of them namely drying, fiber-mat and screening some of the product is wasted. In this study, 25 percent of the tea processing plants in Iran were selected. Three samples were taken from each plant and analyzed for chemical composition and in vitro and in vivo digesti-bility and voluntary feed intake. Results showed that crude protein (CP) content of different tea by-products including drying, fiber-mat and screening were 198, 193 and 194 g/kg dry matter (DM), respectively, with-out significant difference among them. Concentration of ash were 64.0, 62.0 and 56.0 g/kg DM for drying, fiber-mat and screening respectively which was significantly (P<0.05) the lowest in Screening. The content of K, Ca, P, Mg and Na were 16.2, 4.2, 2.5, 2.2 and 0.73 g/kg DM, respectively, without significant differ-ence among the samples. The mean values for in vitro digestibility coefficient of DM, organic matter (OM), OM/DM and gross energy of the tea wastes were 0.48, 0.44, 0.42 and 0.42, respectively. Inclusion of tea waste in the diet significantly (P<0.05) reduced in vivo digestibility coefficient of CP and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). The digestible energy was 10.0 MJ/kg which were not significantly different among the three types of tea waste. Inclusion of 80 g/kg DM tea waste in the diet significantly (P<0.05) reduced voluntary feed intake. Tea waste can be included in the diet of ruminants but its level should be limited due to pres-ence of anti-nutritional factors.