Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T22:05:25.153Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of silage fermentation characteristics on dry-matter intake of steers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

L. E. R. Dawson  and
C. S. Mayne
L. E. R. Dawson
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR
Get access

Abstract

Juke was expressed from two silages of contrasting fermentation type with either high (H) or low (L) levels of lactic acid and reconstituted either with the silage from which it had been expressed or the other silage. This procedure produced four dietary treatments (HH, HL, LL, LH) each differing in fermentation characteristics. The dietary treatments HH, HL, LL, and LH contained 81, 71, 59, and 49 g lactic acid per kg dry matter (DM) and 101, 133, 193 and 159 g ammonia-N per kg total nitrogen (TN) respectively. The four diets were offered to four steers (mean live weight 679 (s.e. 49) kg) in a four-period change-over design experiment. Each period was of 17 days duration. DM intakes were recorded daily, with intakes on days 8 to 17 used in the statistical analysis of data. On day 12 of each experimental period, rumen fluid samples were taken throughout a 24-h period. The rates of disappearance of DM, nitrogen (N), modified acid-detergent fibre (MADF) and neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) in the rumen were determined on days 14 to 17 using the polyester bag technique. DM intakes were 7·2, 6·9, 6·0 and 6·0 (s.e. 0·50) kg/day (P = 0·08) for HH, HL, LL and LH dietary treatments respectively. Diet had no significant effect on eating behaviour, rumen fermentation parameters or degradability of DM, N, MADF and NDF fractions (P > 0·05). Silage L increased rumen fluid pH (P < 0·05), reduced buffering capacity (P < 0·05) and increased the molar proportion of propionic acid and n-butyric acid (P < 0·05 and P < 0·01) compared with silage H. Silage L also had a lower DM apparent digestibility, D-value and DM, (P < 0·001), N and MADF (P < 0·05) degradabilities than silage H. The higher DM intake of dietary treatment HH compared with dietary treatments LL and LH could not be explained by any single constituent of the silages although it was apparent that physical characteristics of the silage were more important in determining intake than the chemical characteristics.

Keywords

beef cattlefood intakesilage fermentation
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , February 1998 , pp. 105 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1998

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 Research Council. 1984. The nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Oxford.Google Scholar
Anil, M. H., Mbanya, J. N., Sissons, H. W. and Forbes, J. M. 1993. Responses in the voluntary intake of hay or silage by lactating cows to intra-ruminal infusions of sodium acetate or sodium propionate, the tonicity of rumen fluid or rumen distension. British journal of Nutrition 69: 699–712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bines, J. A. 1976. Voluntary food intake. In Feeding strategy for the high yielding dairy cow (ed. Broster, W. H. and Swan, H.), pp. 23–48. Granada, London.Google Scholar
Charmley, R. E., McQueen, R. E. and Veira, D. M. 1994. Influence of carboxylic salts on silage conservation and voluntary intake and growth of steers given lucerne silage. Animal Production 58: 221–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cushnahan, A. 1994. An examination of some factors which may influence the production potential of grazed and conserved forages by ruminants. Ph.D. thesis, Queen's University of Belfast.Google Scholar
Dawson, L. and Mayne, C. S. 1995. The effects of either dietary additions or intraruminal infusions of amines and juice extracted from grass silage on the voluntary intake of steers offered grass silage. Animal Feed Science and Technology 56: 119–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, L. E. R. and Mayne, C. S. 1996. The effect of infusion of putrescine and gamma amino butyric acid on the intake of steers offered grass silage containing three levels of lactic acid. Animal Feed Science and Technology 63: 35–49.Google Scholar
Dawson, L. E. R. and Steen, R. W. J. 1997. Relationship between dry matter and fibre degradation characteristics of silage and silage intake in steers. Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science, 1997, p. 124.Google Scholar
Elizalde, H. F. 1993. Studies on the effects of chemical and physical characteristics of grass silage and degree of competition per feeding space on the feeding behaviour of lactating dairy cows. Ph.D. thesis, Queen's University of Belfast.Google Scholar
Forbes, J. M. 1995. Voluntary food intake and diet selection farm animals. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Forbes, J. M., Jackson, D. A., Johnson, C. L., Stockil, P. and Hoyle, B. S. 1986. A method for the automatic monitoring of food intake and feeding behaviour of individual cattle kept in a group. Research and Development in Agriculture 175–180.Google Scholar
Gill, M., Rook, A. J. and Thiago, L. R. S. 1988. Factors affecting the voluntary intake of roughages by the dairy cow. In Nutrition and lactation in the dairy cow (ed. Garnsworthy, P. C.), pp. 262–279.Google Scholar
Harris, C. E. and Raymond, W. F. 1963. The effect of ensiling on crop digestibility, journal of the British Grassland Society 18: 204–212.Google Scholar
Hovell, F. D. deB, Ngambi, J. W. W., Barber, W.P. and Kyle, D. J. 1986. The voluntary intake of hay by sheep in relation to its degradability in the rumen as measured in nylon bags. Animal Production 42: 111–118.Google Scholar
McDonald, P., Edwards, R. A. and Greenhalgh, J. F. D. 1988. Animal nutrition, fourth edition. Longman, London.Google Scholar
McDonald, P., Henderson, A. R. and Heron, S. J. E. 1991. The biochemistry of silage, second edition. Chalcombe Publications, Buckinghamshire.Google Scholar
McLeod, D. S., Wilkins, R. J. and Raymond, W. J. 1970. The voluntary intake by sheep and cattle of silages differing in free acid content. Journal of Agricultural Science, 75: 311–319.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R. and McDonald, P. 1979. The estimation of protein degradability in the rumen from incubation measurements weighted according to rate of passage. journal ofAgriculture Science, Cambridge 90: 499–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ørskov, E. R., Reid, G. W. and Kay, M. 1988. Prediction of intake by cattle from degradation characteristics of roughage. Animal Production 46: 29–34.Google Scholar
Rook, A. J. and Gill, M. 1990. Prediction of the voluntary intake of grass silages by beef cattle. 1. Linear regression analyses. Animal Production 50: 425–438.Google Scholar
Steen, R. W. J., Gordon, F. J., Dawson, L. E. R., Park, R. S., Mayne, C. S., Agnew, R. E., Kilpatrick, D. J. and Porter, M. G. 1998. Factors affecting the intake of grass silage by cattle and prediction of silage intake. Animal Science 66: 115–127.Google Scholar
Thiago, L. R. L., Gill, M. and Sissons, J. W. 1992. Studies of method of conserving grass herbage and frequency of feeding in cattle. 1. Voluntary feed intake, digestion and rate of passage. British journal ofNutrition 67: 319–336.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. 1980. Conserved forages. In Feeding strategies for dairy cows (ed. Broster, W. H., Johnson, C. L. and Tayler, J. C.), pp. 8.1–8.14. Agricultural Research Council, London.Google Scholar
Thomas, C., Gill, M. and Austin, A. R. 1980. The effects of supplements of fishmeal and lactic acid on the voluntary intake of silage by calves. Grass and Forage Science 35: 375–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Os, M., Dulphy, J. P. and Baumont, R. 1995. The influence of ammonia and amines on grass silage intake and intake behaviour in dairy cows. Annales de Zootechnie 44: 73–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, R. J., Hutchinson, K. J., Wilson, R. F. and Harris, C. E. 1971. The voluntary intake of silage by sheep. 1. Interrelationships between silage composition and intake. Journal ofAgricultural Science, Cambridge 77: 531–537.Google Scholar