The objective of this study was to evaluate the ensiling characteristics of Setaria sphacelata var. splendida (S. splendida) and to identify ensilability limiting factors of this tropical grass, locally produced

Fernandes, T.H.

Ferreira, L.M.A.

Martins, J.M.

English

Repositório Científico da Universidade de Évora

 A NOTE ON ENSILING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TROPICAL GRASS Setaria sphacelata var. splendida (Stapf)  J.M. Martins@, T.H. Fernandes and L.M.A. Ferreira Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Rua Gomes Freire, 1199 Lisboa Codex, PORTUGAL     1. INTRODUCTION  A large proportion of livestock in tropical countries live on arid and semi-arid regions that provide abundant, palatable natural or improved pastures in rainy season and very poor feed resources during dry season and occasional prolonged droughts. Therefore, one of the major constraints to animal production in the tropics is the inadequate feeding of animals in those periods of time. To minimise this problem, part of the pastures should be cut during the good quality stage and preserved as hay or silage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ensiling characteristics of Setaria sphacelata                var. splendida (S. splendida) and to identify ensilability limiting factors of this tropical grass, locally produced.   2. MATERIALS AND METHODS  S. splendida was submitted to nitrogen fertilisation and was weekly irrigated. Harvest was conducted at a medium height of 100 cm. Previous experiments conducted in this laboratory proved that silages obtained from S. splendida green material were of poor quality. Therefore, all raw material used in this study was submitted to a 24 h pre-wilting treatment, followed by chopping, treatment according to different treatments    (Table 1) and ensiling in 10 kg capacity laboratory scale silos during 90 days.  TABLE 1. ADDITIVES USED AT THE DIFFERENT TREATMENT SCALE  Designation Dose Treatment 1 Pre-wilting (PW) 24 hour Treatment 2 PW + ADD-F  4 ml/kg FW Treatment 3 PW + Ecosyl 7.5 mg/kg FW Treatment 4 PW + Kem Lac Dry 10 mg/kg FW Treatment 5 PW + Pioneer 1188 3.33 mg/kg FW Treatment 6 PW + Molasses 50 g/kg FW   (1:1 dilution)   Four laboratory silos were used for each treatment and results obtained were statistically submitted to analysis of variance (Steel and Torrie, 1980).                                                               110 @ Present address: Departamento de Zootecnia, Universidade de Évora, Apartado 94, 7001 Évora Codex, PORTUGAL  111  3. RESULTS  Statistical difference (P ≤ 0.05) between treatments (Table 2) showed that Treatment 1 (T1) gave inferior results when compared to the others. Treatment 6 (T6) gave the best results and produced very good quality silages. Treatments 3, 4 and 5 (T3, T4, T5) gave good results as well, results which could have been more significant should the water soluble carbohydrate content of the pre wilted grass be superior. Treatment 2 (T2), although giving better results than T1, resulted in production of silages inferior in quality to those obtained in the other treatments.  TABLE 2. RESULTS AND STATISTICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TREATMENTS (*)  PWgrass T1     T2     T3     T4 T5 T6 Sig. Total LAB (log cfu/g FW)     4.69   9.78   9.61   9.34   9.93 10.06   8.47 NS Clostridia (log spore/FW)     2.90   0.00a   1.90b   0.50ab   0.00a   0.00a   1.00ab * Yeasts/moulds (log cfu/g FW)     5.14   4.01ab   4.48b   2.27a   2.30a   3.19ab   4.77b *          Dry matter (DM) (%FW)   29.10 27.12 27.37 27.87 27.12 27.75 28.12 NS pH    4.64c   4.35bc   4.08b   3.98ab   4.04ab   3.62a * WS Carbohydrates (%DM)     4.02   0.66ab   1.79bc   0.61a   0.60a   0.58a   2.06c * Starch (%DM)     1.08   0.50   1.07   0.55   1.58   1.75   1.21 NS Total nitrogen (TN) (%DM)     1.38   1.29   1.13   1.00   1.28   1.21   1.13 NS Soluble nitrogen (%TN)   40.80 35.60 47.47 58.35 46.52 47.47 54.17 NS N-NH3 (%TN)  10.85   9.47 11.70   6.12   7.67   4.50 NS NDF (%DM)   60.49 57.14 52.44 54.16 56.57 54.01 53.15 NS ADF (%DM)   39.23 35.62 33.17 33.98 34.86 34.57 33.45 NS Ashes (%DM)   13.69 11.56ab 10.64a 11.03ab 11.43ab 10.96ab 13.10b    * Lactate (%DM)    1.85a   1.80a   3.46ab   3.90b   3.68ab   6.39c * Acetate (%DM)    0.68   0.37   0.56   0.51   0.66   0.51 NS Propionate (%DM)    0.01   0.04   0.01   0.02   0.03   0.02 NS Butyrate (%DM)    0.04a   0.11b   0.02a   0.04a   0.03a   0.02a    * Ethanol (%DM)    0.38ab   0.33ab   0.17a   0.63ab   0.26ab   0.69b    * Propanol (%DM)  0.003ab  0.012b 0.004ab  0.001a 0.002ab  0.001a    * Butanol (%DM)   0.003a  0.011b  0.001a  0.000a  0.000a  0.000a    *          IVDM digestibility (%)   52.70 49.92a 52.07a 52.17ab 52.30ab 52.20ab 56.00b    * IVOM digestibility (%)   49.70 41.68a 43.95ab 44.35ab 44.95ab 45.92b 53.10c *      (*) - Means in the same row not followed by the same letter, differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05).   4. CONCLUSION  Present results have proved that, if the limiting factors of the tropical grass S. splendida which affect the production of good silages are taken into account, by implementing special ensilage techniques, it's possible to reduce the chances of obtaining bad quality silages.   5. REFERENCES  STEEL, R;  J. TORRIE (1980).  Principles  and  procedures  of  Statistics.  A  biometrical  approach. McGraw-Hill, New York. 

A note on ensiling characteristics of the tropical grass Setaria sphacelata var. splendida (Stapf).

http://dspace.uevora.pt/rdpc/bitstream/10174/6830/3/1993_Dublin_splendida.pdf

A note on ensiling characteristics of the tropical grass Setaria sphacelata var. splendida (Stapf).

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