Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T11:09:49.814Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The feeding value of mixtures of alkali-treated straw and grass silage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

R. A. Terry ,
M. C. Spooner  and
D. F. Osbourn
R. A. Terry
Affiliation:
The Grassland Research Institute, Hurley, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 5LR
M. C. Spooner
Affiliation:
The Grassland Research Institute, Hurley, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 5LR
D. F. Osbourn
Affiliation:
The Grassland Research Institute, Hurley, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 5LR
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The digestibility and intake by sheep of a neutral mixture of alkali-treated straw and grass silage was compared with an all-silage diet, mixtures of treated straw and silage adjusted to pH of 4 and 10 and with mixtures of untreated straw and silage. Treatment of the straw with alkali increased the digestibility of the organic matter from 46% to 68%. The daily intake of dry matter and digestible organic matter of the neutral, treated-straw/silage mixture was 24·1 and 15·0 compared with 14·7 and 8·8 g/kg live weight for the untreated straw/silage mixture. The sheep when fed ad libitum ate more of the neutral mixture than they did of the mixtures made acid (pH 4·0) and alkaline (pH 10·0) or of the grass silage although the differences were not significant. Calves were fed similar diets of grass silage, a neutral mixture of treated straw and silage and treated straw and grass silage offered without premixing. The calves offered the neutral mixture ate 16·0% more dry matter and 14·5% more organic matter than did the calves offered either silage alone or the unmixed diet and gained live weight at the rate of 0·42 kg/head/day compared with 0·44 for the silage alone and 0·37 for the unmixed diet.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 84 , Issue 2 , April 1975 , pp. 373 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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

Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (1965). Methods of Analysis, 10th ed., Method 2045. Washington.Google Scholar
Beckman, E. (1921). Conversion of grain straw and lupins into feeds of high nutrient value. Festschr. Kaiser Wilhelm Ges. Forderung Wiss. Zehnjahrigen Jubilaum, pp. 18–26. (Chemical Abstracts 16, 765.)Google Scholar
Demarquilly, C. & Jarrige, R. (1970). The effect of method of forage conservation on digestibility and voluntary intake. Proceedings of the 11th International Grassland Congress, pp. 733–7.Google Scholar
Ferguson, W. S. (1941). The digestibility of wheat straw and wheat straw pulp. Biochemical Journal 36, 786–9.Google Scholar
Fernandez Cabmona, J. & Greenhalgh, J. F. D. (1972). The digestibility and acceptability to sheep of chopped or milled barley straw soaked or sprayed with alkali. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 78, 477–85.Google Scholar
Godden, W. (1920). The digestibility of straw after treatment with soda. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 10, 437–51.Google Scholar
Harris, C. E. & Raymond, W. F. (1963). The effect of ensiling on crop digestibility. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18, 204–12.Google Scholar
Macleod, D. S., Wilkins, R. J. & Raymond, W. F. (1970). The voluntary intake by sheep and cattle of silages differing in free acid content. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 75, 311–19.Google Scholar
Owen, E. & Jayasuriya, M. C. N. (1972). Improvement of the nutritive value of low quality roughages for ruminants by chemical treatment. Reading University, Research Guide.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. (1963). Use of detergents in the analysis of fibrous feeds. II. A rapid method for the determination of fibre and lignin. Journal of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists 46, 829–35.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. & Wine, R. H. (1967). Use of detergents in the analysis of fibrous feeds. IV. Determination of plant cell wall constituents. Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists 50, 50–3.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. K. & Pigden, W. G. (1964). Effect of a sodium hydroxide treatment on the utilization of wheat-straw and popular wood by rumen micro-organisms. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 44, 122–3.Google Scholar