FEEDING VALUE OF GRASS SILAGES BASED ON DRY MATTER CONCENTRATION

• Main Authors: Marina Vranić, Mladen Knežević, Krešimir Bošnjak, Goran Perčulija, Josip Leto, Hrvoje Kutnjak, Maja Lujanac
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Agrobitechnical Sciences Osijek 2010-12-01
• Series: Poljoprivreda
• Subjects: grass silage; grass maturity; dry matter; chemical composition
• Online Access: http://poljoprivreda.pfos.hr/upload/publications/poljoprivreda-16-2-8.pdf

Total of 477 grass silage samples of different origin and quality were analysed by NIR spectroscopy to determine crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), digestible organic matter (OM) in the dry matter (DM) (D-value), metabolizable energy (ME), pH value and the ammonium nitrogen (NH3-N). According to DM content (g kg-1 fresh sample), the samples were divided into 8 classes: (1)> 228; (2) 229-313; (3) 314-398; (4) 399-483; (5) 484-568; (6) 569-653; (7i) 654-738; (8) <739. DM increase was followed by a significant (P<0.005) decrease in CP, D-value and ME and an increase (P>0.005) in NDF and pH value. It was concluded that increased DM concentration in silage samples was not a result of –grass wilting before ensiling but of advanced grass maturity at harvest.