8.3 The Digestion of a Wilted Silage made with and without an Additive

Abstract

It has been shown by Beever, Thomson, Cammell and Harrison (1977) that formaldehyde treatment of silage increased amino acid absorption from the small intestine of sheep by 13% and increased the amount of food protein passing through the rumen undegraded by 66% compared to sheep receiving untreated silage. This paper details the digestion of N and apparent uptake of N, non-ammonia N and amino acid N from the small intestine of Jersey cattle fed a silage made from a second growth, mixed S24 perennial ryegrass/red clover sward which was wilted for 24h and then ensiled either without an additive or with a 50/50 mixture of formic acid and formaldehyde (formalin), each at the rate of 2.2 litres/tonne of grass ensiled. The method of ensiling was by use of an Eberhardt Silopresse (Benedict Agricultural Ltd., London). Each of the three cows fed each diet was equipped with a rumen fistula and re-entrant cannulae into the proximal duodenum and terminal ileum.