In vitro fermentation of ten cultivars of barley silage

• Main Authors: Federico Infascelli, Antonietta Guglielmelli, Vincenzo Piccolo, Valeria Terzi, Serena Calabrò, Raffaella Tudisco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2010-01-01
• Series: Italian Journal of Animal Science
• Subjects: Barley, In vitro gas production technique, Ensilage
• Online Access: http://www.aspajournal.it/index.php/ijas/article/view/452

The fermentation characteristics of whole-crop barley silages from ten different cultivars were evaluated by the in vitro gas production technique. The organic matter degradability of barley silage (62.9% in average) was comparable to those reported in our previous trials for oat (59.7%) and sorghum silages (65.5%); while the maximum gas production rate (5.38 ml/h in average) was slightly lower respect to oat (6.71 ml/h) and sorghum silage (6.74 ml/h). The mean nutritive value (4.00 MJ/kg DM) calculated on the basis of both chemical composition and in vitro fermentation data was comparable to that (4.16 MJ/kg DM) obtained in our previous research performed on corn silage, from crop sowed in the same area.