Table 4 Least squares means, for the effect of different amounts of a concentrate mix on intake, digestibility, faecal N, and liveweight

Concentrate intake (kg DM/d)

0.00

^a

1.27

^b

2.66

^c

3.78

^d

4.29

^d

0.22

<0.0001

Guinea grass intake (kg DM/d)

2.19

^a

2.17

^a

1.94

^ab

1.56

^b

1.53

^b

0.22

0.0198

Rice straw intake (kg DM/d)

1.83

^a

1.72

^a

1.56

^a

1.11

^b

0.61

^c

0.11

<0.0001

Substitution rate (kg DM/kg DM)

n.a.

0.10

^a

0.25

^ab

0.37

^bc

0.49

^c

0.10

0.0143

¹OM intake (kg/day)

3.57

^a

4.63

^b

5.59

^c

5.93

^c

5.96

^c

0.25

<0.0001

²GE intake (MJ/d)

69.3

^a

89.7

^b

108.0

^c

114.5

^c

115.3

^c

4.9

<0.0001

³CP intake (kg/d)

0.343

^a

0.540

^b

0.732

^c

0.850

^d

0.910

^d

0.037

<0.0001

⁴EE intake (kg/d)

0.053

^a

0.121

^b

0.192

^c

0.244

^d

0.266

^d

0.011

<0.0001

⁵NDF intake (kg/d)

2.97

^a

3.01

^a

2.86

^a

2.38

^a

2.56

^a

0.33

0.2994

OM digestibility (%)

54.3

^a

60.7

^b

62.8

^bc

66.9

^c

75.1

^d

2.2

<0.0001

Digestible OM intake (kg/d)

1.89

^a

2.58

^b

3.27

^c

3.69

^cd

4.25

^d

0.27

<0.0001

Gross energy digestibility (%)

75.3

^c

80.0

^bc

87.8

^a

83.3

^ab

83.2

^ab

3.1

0.0171

Digestible energy intake (MJ/d)

55.7

^a

71.2

^b

92.7

^c

93.3

^c

97.2

^c

5.3

<0.0001

CP digestibility (%)

57.04

^ab

62.1

^ab

62.36

^ab

66.6

^bc

73.03

^c

3.1

0.0019

EE digestibility (%)

25.5

^d

51.4

^c

59.7

^b

71.8

^a

76.7

^a

3.9

<0.0001

NDF digestibility (%)

59.7

^a

57.4

^a

48.6

^b

41.9

^b

43.1

^b

4.0

0.0012

Faecal N (kg/d)

0.025

^a

0.0321

^b

0.0413

^c

0.0422

^c

0.0386

^c

0.0022

<0.0001

Initial liveweight (kg)

199

^a

206

^a

200

^a

195

^a

200

^a

31.4

0.9983

Final liveweight (kg)

208

^a

248

^b

266

^bc

271

^c

279

^c

6.2

<0.0001

Liveweight gain (kg/d)

0.092

^a

0.577

^b

0.792

^c

0.843

^c

0.943

^c

0.074

<0.0001