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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
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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

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