Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T14:12:30.916Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

E. Charmley ,
R. E. McQueen  and
D. M. Veira
E. Charmley*
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Research Station, PO Box 20280, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 4Z7, Canada
R. E. McQueen
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Research Station, PO Box 20280, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 4Z7, Canada
D. M. Veira
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Centre for Food and Animal Research, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6, Canada
*
† Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Present address: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Experimental Farm, Nappan, Nova Scotia, B0L 1C0, Canada.
Get access

Abstract

Three 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.

Keywords

carboxylic saltsgrowthlucernesilage additivesteers.
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , April 1994 , pp. 221 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1990. Technical committee on responses to nutrients, Report No. 9. Nutritive requirements of ruminant animals: protein. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews, Series B: Livestock Feeds and Feeding 62: 787–835.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council. 1980. Nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council. 1984. Nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Suppl. 1. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Association of Official Analytical Chemists. 1984. Official methods of analysis. 14th ed.Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Barker, S. B. and Summerson, W. H. 1941. The colorimetrie determination of lactic acid in biological material. Journal of Biological Chemistry 137: 535–554.Google Scholar
Charmley, E. and Thomas, C. 1987. Wilting of herbage prior to ensiling: effects on conservation losses, silage fermentation and growth of beef cattle. Animal Production 45: 191–203.Google Scholar
Charmley, E. and Veira, D. M. 1990a. Inhibition of proteolysis at harvest using heat in alfalfa silages: effects on silage composition and digestion by sheep. Journal of Animal Science 68: 758–766.Google Scholar
Charmley, E. and Veira, D. M. 1990b. Inhibition of proteolysis in alfalfa silages using heat at harvest: effects on silage digestion in the rumen, voluntary intake and animal performance. Journal of Animal Science 68: 2042–2051.Google Scholar
Charmley, E. and Veira, D. M. 1991. The effect of heat-treatment and gamma radiation on the composition of unwilted and wilted lucerne silages. Grass and Forage Science 46: 381–390.Google Scholar
Dewar, W. A. and McDonald, P. 1961. Determination of dry matter in silage by distillation with toluene. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 12: 790–795.Google Scholar
Flynn, A. V. and Wilson, R. K. 1978. The relative importance of digestibility, ensiling, fermentation and dry matter content in limiting the utilization of silage by beef cattle. Proceedings of the seventh general meeting of the European Grassland Federation, pp. 6.3–6.15Google Scholar
Goering, H. K. and Van Soest, P. J. 1970. Forage fiber analyses. (Apparatus, reagents, procedures and some applications). Agricultural Handbook No. 379, US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Haigh, P. M. 1992. The effect of an acid salt-type additive on the fermentation of grass silages made in bunker silos on commercial dairy farms in Wales. Grass and Forage Science 47: 353–357.Google Scholar
Henderson, A. R., Stanway, A. P. and McGinn, R. 1991. Aerobic stability of Maxgrass treated silages. In Management issues for the grassland farmer in the 1990's (ed. Mayne, C. S.), occasional symposium, British Grassland Society, no. 25, pp. 224–227.Google Scholar
Mayne, C. S. 1992. An evaluation of the concentrate sparing effect of four silage additives. Animal Production 54: 488 (abstr.).Google Scholar
McKersie, B. D. 1985. Effect of pH on proteolysis in ensiled forage. Agronomy Journal 77: 81–86.Google Scholar
McRae, J. C. and Armstrong, D. G. 1968. Enzyme method for determination of α-linked glucose polymers in biological materials, journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 19: 578–581.Google Scholar
Murphy, J. J. 1992. The performance of dairy cows fed Maxgrass and formic acid-treated silages. Animal Production 54: 488 (abstr.).Google Scholar
O'Kiely, P. and Moloney, A. P. 1992. Growth and rumen fermentation in cattle fed silages made using organic acids. Animal Production 54: 487–488 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R. and McDonald, I. 1979. The estimation of protein degradability in the rumen from incubation measurements weighted according to rate of passage. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 92: 499–503.Google Scholar
Papadopoulos, Y. A. and McKersie, B. D. 1983. A comparison of protein degradation during wilting and ensiling of six forage species. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 63: 903–912.Google Scholar
Playne, M. J. and McDonald, P. 1966. The buffering constituents of herbage and of silage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 17: 264–268.Google Scholar
Poots, R. E., Carson, M. T. and Kennedy, S. J. 1992. The effect of Maxgrass silage additive and level of concentrate supplementation on silage intake, animal performance and carcass characteristics of finishing beef cattle. Animal Production 54: 488–489 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Robinson, P. H. and McQueen, R. E. 1992. Influence of rumen fermentable neutral detergent fiber levels on feed intake and milk production of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 75: 520–532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rooke, J. A., Lee, N. H. and Armstrong, D. G. 1987. The effects of intraruminal infusions of urea, casein, glucose syrup and a mixture of casein and glucose syrup on nitrogen digestion in the rumen of cattle receiving grass-silage diets. British Journal of Nutrition 57: 89–98.Google Scholar
Searle, D., Pahlow, G., Spoelstra, S. F., Lindgren, S., Dellaglio, F. and Lowe, J. F. 1990. Methods of microbial analysis of silages. Proceedings of the Eurobac conference—1986, pp. 140–164.Google Scholar
Spoelstra, S. F. 1984. Some methods to evaluate the role of clostridia in silage. I.V.V.O. internal report no. 168.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1985. SAS user's guide: statistics. Version 5 ed. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Steele, R. G. D. and Torrie, J. H. 1980. Principles and procedures of statistics. 2nd ed.McGraw-Hill, Toronto, ON.Google Scholar
Steen, R. W. J. and Moore, C. A. 1989. A comparison of silage-based and dried forage-based diets, and the effect of protein supplementation of a silage-based diet for finishing beef cattle. Animal Production 49: 233–240.Google Scholar
Thomas, C., Gibbs, B. G., Beever, D. E. and Thurnham, B. R. 1988. The effect of date of cut and barley substitution on gain and on the efficiency of utilization of grass silage by growing cattle 1. Gains in live weight and its components. British Journal of Nutrition 60: 297–306.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. and Thomas, P. C. 1985. Factors affecting the nutritive value of grass silages. In Recent advances in animal nutrition — 1985 (ed. Haresign, W. and Cole, D. J. A.), pp. 223–256. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Thomson, D. J., Waldo, D. R., Goering, H. K. and Tyrrell, H. F. 1991. Voluntary intake, growth rate, and tissue retention by Holstein steers fed formaldehyde-treated and formic acid-treated alfalfa and orchardgrass silages. Journal of Animal Science 69: 4644–4659.Google Scholar
Tyrrell, H. F., Thomson, D. J., Waldo, D. R., Goering, H. K. and Haaland, G. L. 1992. Utilization of energy and nitrogen by yearling Holstein cattle fed direct-cut alfalfa or orchardgrass ensiled with formic acid plus formaldehyde. Journal of Annual Science 70: 3163–3177.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J., Robertson, J. B. and Lewis, B. A. 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber, and non-starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74: 3583–3597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weddell, J. R. 1992. The effect of Maxgrass® treatment of bale silage on the performance of beef cattle. Animal Production 54: 487 (abstr.).Google Scholar