Chemical Composition and in vitro Gas Production of Whole Cottonseed (Gossypium hirsitum L.) Cultivars

The present study was conducted to investigate the chemical composition, gas production, metabolic energy and organic matter digestibility of whole cottonseeds of five different cotton cultivars (Gossupolsuz 86, Lifsiz, Suregrov 125, Stoneville 453 and Nazilli). Crude protein contents of cottonseeds varied between 19.03-24.15%; ADF contents between 31.13-35.01%; NDF contents between 38.61-44.86%; crude ash contents between 2.98-4.39%; crude oil contents between 16.26-26.46% and dry matter between 65.06-69.13%. Gas production values varied between 60.33-92.71 mL; metabolic energy (ME) values between 7.94-11.42 MJ/kg/DM and organic matter digestibility (OMD) between 50.51-71.72%. The differences in chemical composition, gas production, ME and OMD values of cotton cultivars were found to be statistically significant (P<0.01). The cultivar Nazilli was prominent with high crude protein, metabolic energy, low ADF and NDF content. Current findings revealed that present cotton cultivars constituted high quality feed source for livestock