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J Baloyi, M Rambau, F Fushai, 416 Effect of Carbohydrate Additives on the Post-ruminal Dry Matter and Protein Digestibility of Napier Grass (Pennisetum purpureum) Silage., Journal of Animal Science, Volume 96, Issue suppl_3, December 2018, Page 205, https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/sky404.445
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Abstract
The objective of the study was to determine the effect of carbohydrate additives on the chemical composition and post-ruminal in vitro digestibility of Napier grass silage. Napier grass planted at University of Venda in 5 x 4 metre plots was irrigated weekly for 12 weeks. After the 12 weeks, the fresh Napier grass was cut and ensiled with either no additive or molasses, maize meal and brown sugar at 10 % of fresh weight in a completely randomised design and replicated six times for 90 days in 1 litre glass jars. After 90 days, the chemical composition of the silages were analysed using standard protocols. The ruminal degradability was determined in sacco by incubating silage samples in nylon bags (external dimension: 6 × 12 cm, pore size of 46 µm) in the rumen in three Bonsmara steers fitted with rumen cannulae for 12, 24 and 48, hours, followed by sequential in vitro digestion in pepsin-HCl (abomasal) and pancreatin (small intestine) solutions. Collected data were subjected to analysis of variance using the general linear model procedures of Minitab Statistical package version 17. Carbohydrate additives increased (P <0.01) silage DM and reduced (P <0.01) ADF and NDF, with no effect (P >0.05) on CP, NPN and ADL. Molasses increased (P <0.01) the ash content. Carbohydrate additives increased (P <0.01) DM and CP disappearance at 12, 24 and 48 h rumen incubation but reduced (P <0.01) in vitro CP digestibility after 12 h of rumen incubation. The increase in DM and CP disappearance due to carbohydrate additives did not influence (P >0.01) post ruminal in vitro DM and CP digestibility. Therefore, the results suggest that additives were effective in improving the quality of Napier grass silage leading to improved ruminal degradability, with molasses treatment yielding the best silage quality.