Rice husk

Rice husk is the dry outer covering of rice grain, which  is  always removed  during  the  milling  of rice. It is of no direct nutritional value to man and in most mills it is often discarded or allowed to rot away. In some areas however, it may be collected and used as litter material or used in fire making. In spite of rice husk abundance, nutritionists have neglected the use of it in animals feed production because of its fibre content, roughness poor nutritive value and induced irritation in digestive tract.

Nutritive value

Rice  husk  contains  2.9-3.6%  crude  protein, 0.8-1.2% ether extract, 39-42% crude fibre  and 15-22% ash. Attempts at increasing the utilization of fibrous feed ingredients like rice husk include adequate fortification with micro nutrients, supplementation with high quality protein and amino acids, physical and chemical pre-treatments and the use of microbial enzymes and antibiotics