Journal of Biology, Agriculture and Healthcare www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-3208 (Paper) ISSN 2225-093X (Online) Vol.6, No.22, 2016 58 Effects of Inoculum Concentration and Soaking of Acacia Pods and Seeds in Ashed Rice Husk Filtrate on Chemical Compunds and In-Vivo Digestibilityof Fermented and Unfermented Acacia Sagaf Djalalembah, Padang Hamid, Sirajuddin Abdullah and Asriani Hasanuddin Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Tadulako, Palu, Indonesia, 94118 Abstract A study was conducted to determine the effect of concentration of inoculum (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and soaking acacia (seeds and pods) with ashed rice husk filtrate (ARHF) on nutrient and anti-nutrient content of fermented and unfermented acacia and their effect on in-vivo digestibilities of dry matter and organic matter. A total of 24 local goats were study. The animals were placed in individual pen. The goats were fed with corn stovers and concentrate. The concentrate consisted of 20% corn, 10% full fat soybean meal, 30% rice bran and 40% acacia seeds and pods. The experimental diets were four levels of inoculum (0, 5, 10 and 15%) and two levels of soaking (without and with ARHF). The feeds and water were available ad-libitum. A randomised block factorial design was used with the inoculum concentration (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as a first factor, levels of soaking as a second factor and three replications. The results indicated that inoculum concentration produced significant effect (P<0.05) on crude protein, crude fibre and saponint contents of fermented acacia. Dry matter and organic matter digestibilities was also affected (P<0.05) due to inoculum concentration. The effects of soaking acacia with ARHF on crude protein, crude fibre, saponin contents, dry matter and organic matter digestibilities were statistically significant (P<0.05). There was an interaction between inoculum concentration and soaked acacia with ARHF on tannin conecntration of fermented acacia. In conclusion, the use of inoculum (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) improved nutritive value of acacia and soaking the acacia with ashed rice husk filtrate prior to fermentation increased the nutritive value. There was an interaction between inoculum concentration and soaked acacia with ashed rice husk filtrate on acacia quality. Keywords: Acacia, fermentation, ashed rice husk filtrate, goats. 1. Introduction One of the problems in small ruminant production in the tropical region, particularly during dry season is the inadequacy and poor quality of feedstuffs. Searching for locally available feedstuffs which are nutrionally and economically viable has been a main concern over the last decades by ruminant nutritionists. During dry season, the quality and quantity of pastures in some parts of the tropical countries is poor for a number of months. Accordingly, the use of trees and shrubs has been considered important in some parts of Indonesia to meet the nutreint requirements of grazing and browsing animals, such as goat. Acacia (Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd. ex Del), one of the among promising legume trees, was widely available in arid and semi-arid regions of eastern Indonesia. This tree has great potential for feeding ruminants, particularly during the drought season when the pastures were scarcely available. A comprehensive study of the nutritive value of acacia seeds and pods in Indonesia has been reported by Djufri (2002). The seeds and pods contained 12.3% protein and 13.9% crude fibre with 67.2% organic matter digestibility. Although the nutrient contents of this feedstuff is relatively favourable for ruminants, its use in the ruminant diets is still limited due to anti-nutrient content of tannin. This polyphenolic substance of tannin had inhibitory effect on protein digestibility (Anganga et al., 1998). Efforts to reduce the negative impact of using acacia seeds and pods in ruminant diets have been made through soaking in polyethilene glycol, crushing and soaking in wood ash and boiling in water (Uguru et al., 2014). The above methods of processing acacia pods and seeds need technical skill and these methods only foccus on the severe effect of tannins. A comprehensive processing technology is needed to not only to minimize the anti nutrient effect of tannins but also increase the quality of the nutrients. Fermentation technology has long been practiced to increase the nutritive value of a low quality feedstuff. This technology accomodates proliferation of microbes which can induce microbial enzyme for breaking down glycosidic bond of dietary fibre or other substances, such as tannins. There is an ample evidence that fermentation increases nutritive value of feedstuff and decrease the negative effect of tannins (Oseni and akindahunsi, 2011; Abang and Shittu, 2015). Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used to ferment feedstuffs to improve the nutritive value (Rui-yang et al., 2013) and soaking the substrate in alkaline solution also could weaken the lignocellulosic bonds (Ryu, 1989).