Abstract
Abstract Dry seasons pose a major nutritional constraint on ruminant livestock production in tropical regions, which justifies forage conservation to meet the dry season feed requirement. Napier grass is a tropical forage that is used for silage in South Africa. The present objective was to determine the effects of Napier grass fertilization with bio-digester slurry (BDS) and the inclusion of fermentable carbohydrate additives at ensiling on the chemical composition and ruminal degradability of Napier grass silage. Napier grass was established in 5 × 4 m plots, replicated three times in a completely randomized design, and irrigated weekly with either BDS or water. After 12 weeks, the Napier was cut and ensiled for 90 days in 1-liter glass jars in a 2 (BDS, water) × 4 (no-additive, molasses, brown sugar, and maize meal) factorial arrangement replicated three times. The nutrient composition was determined using standard protocols. The ruminal degradability of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) was determined using the nylon bag technique. Fertilization with BDS increased (P < 0.05) pH and CP and reduced (P < 0.05) fat content of fresh-cut Napier. Additives increased (P < 0.01) silage DM content and reduced (P < 0.01) acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber content. The BDS fertilization with molasses inclusion increased (P < 0.05) silage DM relative to the no-additive and maize meal inclusion, and decreased (P < 0.05) fat content compared to the no-fertilizer, added maize meal silage. Molasses increased silage water-soluble carbohydrate and decreased the NH3-N content (P < 0.05) compared to the no-additive and maize meal treatments. For DM, the BDS fertilized, no additive silage had the least “a” fraction (P < 0.01), while the no BDS, no-additive silage had the least “b” fraction (P < 0.01), with least (P < 0.01) potential degradability (PD) observed for the no BDS, no-additive treatment. Fertilization increased (P < 0.01) effective degradability of DM at outflow rates k = 0.02, 0.05, 0.08, with same effect for molasses and maize meal inclusion. Relative to the control, molasses inclusion increased (P < 0.01) PD of silage CP. In conclusion, our results suggested BDS fertilization of Napier grass ensiling with added readily fermentable carbohydrate substrate, particularly from molasses, induced changes in silage chemical and fermentation characteristics likely to promote better forage preservation and ruminal microbial function.
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Claims 15
Claim · model-written summary
Slurry fertilization increased pH and crude protein of fresh-cut Napier grass.
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“Fertilization with BDS increased (P < 0.05) pH and CP and reduced (P < 0.05) fat content of fresh-cut Napier”
Claim · model-written summary
Slurry fertilization reduced fat content of fresh-cut Napier grass.
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“Fertilization with BDS increased (P < 0.05) pH and CP and reduced (P < 0.05) fat content of fresh-cut Napier”
Claim · model-written summary
Additives increased silage dry matter content.
- Taxon
- Napier grass
.jpg?width=60)
Cenchrus purpureust0 - Treatment
- Additivese0
- Outcome
- silage DM contente0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“Additives increased (P < 0.01) silage DM content and reduced (P < 0.01) acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber content”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Additives reduced acid detergent and neutral detergent fiber content.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- Additivese0
- Outcome
- acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber contente0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Additives increased (P < 0.01) silage DM content and reduced (P < 0.01) acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber content”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Slurry with molasses increased silage dry matter relative to no additive and maize meal.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- BDS fertilization with molasses inclusione0
- Outcome
- silage DMe0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- no-additive and maize meal inclusione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“BDS fertilization with molasses inclusion increased (P < 0.05) silage DM relative to the no-additive and maize meal inclusion”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Slurry with molasses decreased silage fat content compared with unfertilized maize-meal silage.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- BDS fertilization with molasses inclusione0
- Outcome
- fat contente0
- Direction
- decreasede0
- Comparator
- no-fertilizer, added maize meal silagee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The BDS fertilization with molasses inclusion increased (P < 0.05) silage DM relative to the no-additive and maize meal inclusion, and decreased (P < 0.05) fat content compared to the no-fertilizer, added maize meal silage”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Molasses increased water-soluble carbohydrate in silage.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- Molassese0
- Outcome
- silage water-soluble carbohydratee0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- no-additive and maize meal treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Molasses increased silage water-soluble carbohydrate and decreased the NH3-N content (P < 0.05) compared to the no-additive and maize meal treatments”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Molasses decreased silage ammonia nitrogen versus no additive and maize meal.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- Molassese0
- Outcome
- NH3-N contente0
- Direction
- decreasede0
- Comparator
- no-additive and maize meal treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Molasses increased silage water-soluble carbohydrate and decreased the NH3-N content (P < 0.05) compared to the no-additive and maize meal treatments”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilized silage without additive had the least dry matter a fraction.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- BDS fertilized, no additive silagee0
- Outcome
- “a” fractione0
- Direction
- leaste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the BDS fertilized, no additive silage had the least “a” fraction (P < 0.01)”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Unfertilized silage without additive had the least dry matter b fraction.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- no BDS, no-additive silagee0
- Outcome
- “b” fractione0
- Direction
- leaste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the no BDS, no-additive silage had the least “b” fraction (P < 0.01)”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Unfertilized silage without additive had the least potential degradability.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- no BDS, no-additive treatmente0
- Outcome
- potential degradability (PD)e0
- Direction
- leaste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“least (P < 0.01) potential degradability (PD) observed for the no BDS, no-additive treatment”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Fertilization increased effective dry matter degradability at all stated outflow rates.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- Fertilizatione0
- Outcome
- effective degradability of DMe0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- outflow rates k = 0.02, 0.05, 0.08e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fertilization increased (P < 0.01) effective degradability of DM at outflow rates k = 0.02, 0.05, 0.08”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Molasses increased effective dry matter degradability at stated outflow rates.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- molassese0
- Outcome
- effective degradability of DMe0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fertilization increased (P < 0.01) effective degradability of DM at outflow rates k = 0.02, 0.05, 0.08, with same effect for molasses and maize meal inclusion”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize meal increased effective dry matter degradability at stated outflow rates.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- maize meal inclusione0
- Outcome
- effective degradability of DMe0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Fertilization increased (P < 0.01) effective degradability of DM at outflow rates k = 0.02, 0.05, 0.08, with same effect for molasses and maize meal inclusion”
t0“Napier grass”
Claim · model-written summary
Molasses increased crude protein potential degradability relative to control.
- Taxon
- Napier grassCenchrus purpureust0
- Treatment
- molasses inclusione0
- Outcome
- PD of silage CPe0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Comparator
- controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Relative to the control, molasses inclusion increased (P < 0.01) PD of silage CP”
t0“Napier grass”
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