QUALITY, FERMENTATION, AND UTILIZATON OF AMMONIATED GRASS-LEGUME SILAGE (FIBER, CARBOHYDRATE ANALYSIS)
Abstract
Mature first-cutting orchardgrass-clover herbage was harvested, treated with anhydrous ammonia at 0, 15, and 30 g/kg dry matter (DM) and ensiled at 63.5% moisture for 10 weeks. The ensiled herbages had pH values of 4.7, 6.8, and 7.1, respectively. Concentrations of acetate, propionate, lactate, and butyrate were 3.09, 0.53, 1.09, 0.05 and 2.01, 0.15, 0.68, 0.06% DM for the 0 and 30 g/kg DM treatments, respectively. Treatment at 15 g/kg DM resulted in a poor fermentation which produced organic acid concentrations of 1.34, 0.29, 0.09, and 1.43%, respectively. Ammoniation at 30 g/kg DM decreased (P < .05) the concentrations of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and hemicellulose by 7.0 and 6.6% units but did not affect (P > .05) the concentrations of acid detergent fiber (ADF), cellulose, or lignin. There was no effect (P > .05) of ammoniation at 15 g/kg DM on the concentration of any fiber constituent. Ammoniation did not affect (P > .05) the relative concentrations of xylose, arabinose, galactose, and glucose in cell wall hydrolysates, but treatment at 30 g/kg DM increased (P < .05) uronic acid concentration by 1.6 percentage units. Ammoniation at 15 and 30 g/kg DM increased the concentrations of total nitrogen (N) by 1.4 and 2.3 percentage units of which 47.1 and 47.2%, respectively, was retained in the ammonium form. Rate constants for in vitro NDF digestion of the ammoniated silages did not differ (P > .05) but were greater (P < .05) than that of the control. Rate constants for the control and ammoniated silages were .051 and .061/hr., respectively. Ammoniation at 30 g/kg DM increased (P < .05) the in vivo digestibility of DM, NDF, ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose by 8.7, 16.8, 17.9, 15.5, and 17.8 percentage units, respectively, when fed to sheep. Ammoniation increased ad libitum dry matter consumption by sheep from 42.2 to 52.7 and 65.3 g kg('-.75)day('-1) for silage treated at 15 and 30 g/kg DM, respectively. Ammoniation of orchardgrass-alfalfa silage at 30 g/kg DM increased (P < .05) the in vivo digestibility of DM, NDF, ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose by 7.9, 14.2, 15.2, 13.1, and 16.2 percentage units when fed to cattle. Ammoniation had no effect (P > .05) on rumen particulate or liquid turnover rate when this silage was fed to cattle. Average turnover rates for these phases were .061 and .101/hr., respectively.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Agronomy
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