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The fermentable metabolisable energy in grass silage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2017

A T Chamberlaina ,
K Seyoum ,
D Chapman  and
C Piotrowski
A T Chamberlaina
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Reading, PO Box 236, Reading, UK
K Seyoum
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Reading, PO Box 236, Reading, UK
D Chapman
Affiliation:
NIR Services, J Bibby Agriculture Ltd, Oxford Road, Adderbury, Banbury, UK
C Piotrowski
Affiliation:
NIR Services, J Bibby Agriculture Ltd, Oxford Road, Adderbury, Banbury, UK
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Extract

The UK metabolisable protein system (AFRC, 1992) requires the measurement of fermentable metabolisable energy (FME) to determine the potential yield of microbial crude protein in the rumen. FME is defined as:

The objective of this work was to measure the ME , ether extract and volatile fatty acid components of first cut grass silages to assess the range of FME and non-fermentable fractions and hence the range of fermentabilities (FME:ME).

Eighty-four clamp grass silages, predominantly first-cut rye grass, were analysed for modified acid detergent fibre (MADF), individual volatile fatty acids, oil (ether extract) and oven dry matter. ME was predicted from the MADF after correction for oven dry matter. The gross energy of the lactic, acetic, propanoic, butyric and valeric acid were taken to be 15.2, 14.6, 20.8, 24.9, and 28.0 MJ/kg DM, and for the Ether Extract fraction of grass 38.5 MJ/kg DM. The energy content of the volatile fatty acids in the silage were summed and FME was calculated as described above. The fermentability of the silage was the expressed as the proportion of FME to ME.

Type
Silage and Feeding Behaviour
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1993: Winter meeting , March 1993 , pp. 141
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1993

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References

AFRC (1992) Technical committee on Responses to Nutrients, Report No. 9. Nutritive requirements of Ruminant Animals: Protein. Nutri Abs and Reviews, Series B, 62, 788–835 Google Scholar