Influence of carboxylic salts on silage conservation, and voluntary intake and growth of steers given lucerne silage

1994 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Charmley ◽  
R. E. McQueen ◽  
D. M. Veira

AbstractThree wilted silages (dry matter concentration of approximately 300 g/kg) were prepared from early-bloom lucerne which received no additive (MG-0), or was treated with a mixture of carboxylic salts (Maxgrass) at either 4 (MG-4) or 8 (MG-8) l/t fresh crop. Silages were stored in tower silos. Resulting silages were offered ad libitum to growing Holstein steers without supplementation. Untreated silage (MG-0) exhibited an extensive, predominantly lactic acid fermentation. The nitrogen (N) fraction was highly soluble, relative to the crop at ensiling. Silage fermentation and protein solublization were restricted by Maxgrass application. Maxgrass application reduced aerobic stability of silage removed from the upper third of silos but not of silage from the lower portion of silos. Apparent digestibility showed a quadratic response to level of Maxgrass application (P < 0·05). Voluntary intake was not affected by Maxgrass addition (P > 0·005) but intake of all silages was high (30 g/kg live weight (LW)). There was a positive linear response (P < 0·05) in LW gain to Maxgrass application with gains of 0·74, 0·86 and 0·87 kg/day being achieved in steers given MG-0, MG-4 and MG-8 silages, respectively. Degradability of silage N determined in nylon bags in situ was unaffected by Maxgrass application. However, the immediately degradable N fraction was reduced by Maxgrass application (linear effect, P < 0·001; quadratic effect, P < 0·05). Benefits in animal performance due to Maxgrass application were attributed to improved N composition while restricted carbohydrate fermentation during ensiling was considered to be of secondary importance.

1983 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Orr ◽  
J. E. Newton ◽  
Caroline A. Jackson

ABSTRACTMasham ewes carrying single, twin or triplet foetuses were offered a ration of concentrates which increased from 200 to 650 g per ewe per day over the last 7 weeks of pregnancy in 2 years. Silage was offered ad libitum and the voluntary intake of each ewe was measured. In the first year, 30 ewes were offered a poorly-preserved, wet silage (A) which had a low digestibility, followed by a better-preserved silage (B) which had a higher digestibility and dry-matter concentration. There was an increase in silage intake when the change was made from A to B. In the following year, 32 ewes were offered silage (C) which was well preserved, similar in digestibility to B but with a lower dry-matter concentration. The ewes ate more silage organic matter (g/kg live weight) with C than A (12·77 v. 9·34) in weeks 15 to 17 of pregnancy but more of B than C (13·76 v. 10·38) in weeks 19 to 20. Ewes carrying single lambs ate more silage and had a slower rate of decrease in silage intake when the concentrate ration was increased as pregnancy progressed. As litter size increased there-was either greater loss or smaller gain in body condition score.


1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. T. Treacher

SUMMARY1. Scottish Half-bred ewes carrying twin foetuses were fed individually to make live-weight gains in the last six weeks of pregnancy of (1) 20%, (2) 10% and (3) 0% of their live weight in week 14 of pregnancy. In lactation the ewes were fed ad libitum. The lambs were removed 12 to 16 hr after parturition and the ewes were machine-milked twice daily for the first six weeks of lactation.2. Total birth weights per ewe of twin lambs from the treatments were (1) 10·10 kg, (2) 9·44 kg and (3) 8·18 kg and differed significantly.3. The level and pattern of voluntary intake in lactation did not differ significantly between the treatments. Total dry-matter intakes in the six weeks of lactation were (1) 121·9 kg (2) 105·9 kg and (3) 109·5 kg.4. The pregnancy treatments affected the level of milk production and the shape of lactation curves. The total yields in the first six weeks of lactation were (1) 58·8 kg, (2) 43·5 kg and (3) 26·9 kg. Higher contents of fat and protein and the lower content of lactose in the milk from treatment-3 ewes on days 1 and 3 of lactation indicated a slower onset of lactation in these ewes. Between days 7 and 35 of lactation the contents of fat and SNF were lowest on treatment 3 but the differences were not significant.5. The live-weight changes in lactation, which were in inverse order to the gains in late pregnancy, were (1) 3·4 kg, (2) 5·5 kg and (3) 9·5 kg.


Author(s):  
Mario F. Castellón-Zelaya ◽  
Simón González-Martínez

Abstract The silage of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is a common practice in biogas plants. During silage, fermentation processes take place, affecting the later methanisation stage. There are no studies about how OFMSW silage affects methane production. This work aimed to determine the effects of silage (anaerobic acid fermentation) at different solids concentrations and temperatures on methane production. OFMSW was ensiled at 20, 35, and 55 °C with total solids (TS) concentrations of 10, 20, and 28% for 15 days. The ensiled OFMSW was then tested for methane production at the substrate to inoculum ratios (S/I) of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5. Independently of the temperature, the production of the metabolites during silage increases with decreasing solids concentration. The highest metabolites production were lactic acid, ethanol, and acetic acid, representing together 95% of the total. Methane production from ensiled OFMSW at 10% solids concentration shows, under every tested condition, better methane production than from fresh OFMSW. Ensiled OFMSW produces more methane than fresh OFMSW, and methane production was highest at 35 °C.


1990 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Rook ◽  
M. Gill

ABSTRACTData on individually recorded silage dry-matter intake (SDMI), concentrate dry-matter intake (CDMI) and live weight of steers and data on silage composition including toluene dry matter (TDM), pH, total nitrogen (N), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), volatile fatty acids (VFAs), digestible organic matter in the dry matter (DOMD) and neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) obtained from experiments conducted at three sites were used to obtain simple and multiple linear regressions of SDMI on other variables.Live weight accounted for a high proportion of the variation in intake but this effect could generally be removed by scaling intake by live weight raised to the power of 0·75 (M0·75). CDMI was the most important factor affecting scaled intake in mixed diets. TDM, NH,-N and VFAs all had important effects on SDMI. The relationship of SDMI with TDM was curvilinear suggesting that there is little to be gained in intake terms from wilting to TDM above 250 g/kg. The effect of NH3-N appeared to be related more to its correlation with VFAs than with any other nitrogenous constituent while the VFAs appeared to have a direct effect on SDMI. The effects of N and pH on SDMI were generally small. DOMD and NDF had relatively little effect on SDMI. Significant differences in intercepts between sites were found for most relationships although common slopes were often found.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. e0603
Author(s):  
Pedro González-Redondo ◽  
Francisco P. Caravaca ◽  
Alberto García-Ávarez ◽  
Fernando Martínez-Moreno

Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) usually fed on ground or pelleted balanced feeds, while whole grains are supplied in alternative systems. Voluntary intake and preference of four whole-grain cereals (durum wheat, bread wheat, triticale and barley) were assessed in Japanese quails. Two experiments were performed: (i) a trial with five batches of six randomly selected quails (three males, three females) allocated to each treatment consisting of one cereal or a balanced feed (control) in the voluntary intake experiment; and (ii) a trial with four bird batches receiving simultaneously the four cereals in the preference experiment. Three repetitions of each trial were performed. When feedstuffs were provided as a sole feed, voluntary feed intake differed, being the highest in quails fed the balanced feed (20.0 g/d), intermediate for durum wheat (15.0 g/d), bread wheat (15.8 g/d) or triticale (15.6 g/d), and the lowest for barley (12.1 g/d). Voluntary intake did not differ between sexes. Positive correlations existed between voluntary feed intake and live weight of quails, being the highest and very strong for the balanced feed, moderate for durum and bread wheat and barley, and weak for triticale. The preference trial showed that quails preferred durum wheat (7.1 g/d), triticale (4.0 g/d), bread wheat (3.0 g/d) and barley (0.3 g/d) in descending order, independently of sex. Positive correlations existed between daily feed intake and live weight of birds for durum and bread wheat. Strong positive correlation existed between bird live weight and total intake when the four cereals were available simultaneously. Differences in voluntary intake and preference among whole-grain cereals should be take into account when used to feed quails.


Author(s):  
J A Rooke ◽  
F Kafilzadeh

The selection of lactic acid bacteria for use as silage additives is normally based upon their ability to dominate the silage fermentation and not upon benefits in animal performance. The object of this study was to investigate whether two lactic acid bacteria selected for fermentation characteristics would support the same animal performance as an established silage inoculant.On 5 June 1989, first cut, predominantly perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) was ensiled direct with no wilting in plastolene silos of 2 tonne capacity. The herbage was harvested with a precision chop forage harvester and the following additive treatments were applied: None, control (C); Formic acid (Add-F, BP Nutrition, 850g/kg; 3 litres/tonne), (F); inoculant E. (Ecosyl, ICI Pic, 106Lactobacillus plantarum /g): inoculant A, (Pediococcus sp, 10 /g); inoculant B (L. plantarum 106 /g). The silages were fed to 6 wether sheep (Suffolk x Halfbred), initial live-weight, 40.1 kg (s.d. 2.22kg). Because the silages were unstable aerobically and restricted quantities of each silage were available, all sheep were fed the silages in the same (random) order.


1963 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Blaxter ◽  
R. S. Wilson

SUMMARY1. The energy value of three hays cut at three stages of maturity was. measured by calorimetric methods and, in addition, the amounts of the hays consumed voluntarily by sheep were measured. Voluntary intake was alsa measured when 200, 500, 800 and 1,200 g. of pelleted concentrates were given.2. The metabolisable energy values of the three hays measured at the-maintenance level were 2·45, 2·26 and 2·16 kcal./g. for cuts 1, 2 and 3-respectively (cut 1 being the earliest). The net energy values for fat production were 0·96, 0·85 and 0·68 kcal./g. respectively.3. The apparent digestibility of the hays fell with increasing intake, but supplementation with concentrates increased their apparent digestibility.4. The voluntary intake of the hays given as the sole food was 70, 62 and 57 g./kg. W0·73 for the three cuts, respectively. When concentrates were given in increasing amounts, the intake of cuts 2 and 3 increased to maxima of 65 g. and 64 g./kg. W0·73 respectively and thereafter declined. With cut 1, intake of hay declined even with the smallest intake of concentrates. Voluntary intake of the hays was maximal when the protein content of the whole ration was 8·5%.5. When no supplement was given the digested energy per sheep per day supplied by cut 1 was 64% greater than that supplied by cut 3. When 800 g. concentrates were given, however, the ration including the early cut of hay provided only 2% more energy than that including the late cut.6. It is shown that if hay were given as the sole food cut 3, which produced 57% more weight of crop per acre, would provide 38% more metabolisable energy/acre and 11% more net energy (starch equivalent)/acre than would cut 1. The late cut would also enable 92% more sheep to be kept feeding to maximal appetite on an acre of produce. However, the total live-weight gain per acre would be only 25% of that obtained with thefirstcut.7. Comparable calculations have been made for the experiments in which concentrates were given. It is shown that here too optimal times of cutting can only be assessed in terms of estimates of animal production.


Author(s):  
E.R. Ørskov ◽  
I.A. Ojwang

Differences in rumen volume can have considerable effects on the digestibility and voluntary intake of ruminants. For instance Mould et al. 1982 showed that cattle in Bangladesh had a much greater rumen volume relative to live weight than reported values of Friesian cattle. They also consume much more straw per unit of live weight than Friesian cattle.Differences between cows in the ability to consume roughage have often been observed. It is however possible that this strategy could be adopted simply by increasing outflow rate and not necessarily by a high rumen volume. Depending on the strategy adopted this would give rise to differences in the digestibility of the roughage consumed.In order to investigate these aspects in more detail, 22 lactating Friesian cows were given doses of Cr-mordanted straw having been ground through a hammer mill with a 2 mm screen. The cows were fed completely mixed diets consisting of 50% ammonia treated straw and 50% concentrate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (03) ◽  
pp. 245-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Franco ◽  
T. Stefanski ◽  
T. Jalava ◽  
K. Kuoppala ◽  
A. Huuskonen ◽  
...  

AbstractPreservation of moist grain anaerobically by so-called crimping has many advantages. Generally, preservation has been successfully performed when grain is harvested at 30–40% moisture content (MC). However, there is a trend towards using drier than the optimal MC of the raw material. This leads to an increasing need to control aerobic spoilage of the material and also to experimental challenges in assessing the quality and stability of low-MC crimped grain. The objective of the current work was to evaluate fermentation quality, microbial composition and aerobic stability (AS) of drier than the optimal crimped grain ensiled with different additives and to use these materials to compare three different AS evaluation methods. Crimped wheat grain with 28% MC was ensiled using eight additive treatments based mainly on formic and propionic acids including a control without any additive. The low MC resulted in no lactic acid fermentation, but significant ethanol formation occurred in the control. The treatments used resulted in clear differences in microbial quality and AS of the feeds, and use of formic and propionic acid-based additives provided a clear benefit in improving the AS of crimped wheat grain. The correlation between increasing temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) production under aerobic conditions was very close, indicating that CO2 produced by aerobic bacteria can be used as a method of evaluating AS. Visual inspection of mould growth resulted in somewhat different ranking of the treatments.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document