Abstract
Whole-plant soybean ensiling has limitations and challenges that affect silage fermentation patterns and reduce ruminal nutrient degradation. Perhaps either the addition of molasses at ensiling or harvesting at different phenological stages has the potential to enhance whole-plant soybean silage (WSS) ruminal degradation. This experiment was a completely randomized design with a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments evaluating the effects of molasses (0 and 40 g/kg fresh forage) and phenological stage (R5: beginning seed, R6: full seed, and R7: beginning maturity) on ruminal in situ degradation. Molasses increased effective ruminal degradability (ERD) of dry matter (DM) regardless of the phenological stage and increased ERD of crude protein at R5 and R6. The addition of molasses at later phenological stages increased ERD of neutral detergent fiber (NDF). There was a molasses × phenological stage interaction effect with greater fractions A and B of NDF at R7 and R5, respectively, but lower undegraded NDF at R5 and R6 with molasses addition. Although the benefits of adding molasses were more pronounced in R5 and R6, adding molasses to whole-plant soybean at ensiling is recommended regardless of phenological stage. Increasing the proportion of digestible nutrients at harvesting either by harvesting at later phenological stages or the addition of molasses is a powerful strategy to manage ruminal degradation of DM and nutrients in WSS.
Highlights
Utilizing homegrown forages with a high protein concentration increases the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of high-producing livestock systems
Molasses did not affect (P ≥ 0.15) fraction B or the kd of dry matter (DM), but both were greater (P = 0.001) at R7 compared to earlier phenological stages (Table 3)
While the phenological stage effect reflects morphological changes in the plant structure, such as leaves, pods, stalks, and their chemical compositions [8] [23], the effect of molasses could be related to either a reduction in moisture or a greater concentration of substrate for silage fermentation [4] [6]. Both DM and water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) concentrations are crucial for obtaining an efficient silage fermentation [5], our findings suggest these were not limiting factors to produce a high ruminal degradable whole-plant soybean silage (WSS) at R7 stage
Summary
Utilizing homegrown forages with a high protein concentration increases the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of high-producing livestock systems. Whole-plant soybean fermentation has limitations and challenges, such as low water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) and dry matter (DM) concentrations, as well as high buffering capacity [4]. These characteristics impair silage fermentation by promoting proteolysis, and thereby, the production of poor-quality silage with high pH, ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), and butyric acid concentrations [5], leading to decreased ruminal nutrient degradation [6] [7]. The addition of molasses (20 g/kg fresh forage) increased lactic acid concentration and reduced WSS pH [4]. Improvements in fermentation profile reduce losses of neutral detergent solubles, which are more digestible than cell wall constituents [5], increasing ruminal degradability
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