Abstract
The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of adding a fibrolytic enzyme in combination with bacterial inoculants on the fermentation, chemical composition and aerobic stability of ensiled potato hash (PH). Potato hash silage (PHS) was produced by mixing 800 g PH/kg and 200g wheat bran (WB)/kg. The mixture was ensiled with either no additive or enzyme Celluclast (low or high dose) or bacterial inoculants (Emsilage and Silosolve). These treatment combinations were produced: i) no additive (control); ii) Celluclast low dose (CLD); iii) Celluclast high dose (CHD); iv) Emsilage (EMS); v) CLD + EMS; vi) CHD + EMS; vii) Silosolve (SLS); viii) CLD + SLS; and ix) CHD + SLS. These treatments were ensiled in 81 x 1 L anaerobic jars for 90 days with nine replicates per treatment. Three samples per treatment were collected before ensiling and after 90 days’ ensiling, were analysed for fermentation characteristics and chemical composition. In addition, samples of day 90 were subjected to an aerobic stability test, where they were exposed for five days. Enzyme addition reduced fibre, thus making more sugar available for fermentation. The combination of CHD and EMS reduced silage pH, thus preserving the silage compared with other treatment combinations. Enzyme addition (used at low and high dose), and bacterial inoculants improved fermentation. Enzyme addition improved the chemical composition, but impaired the aerobic stability of PHS. Further work to test these findings on animal performance is warranted. Keywords: Deterioration, fibre, nutrients, pH, ruminant, water soluble carbohydrates
Highlights
Agro-industrial by-products from food processing industries can be less expensive sources of nutrients for ruminant feeding because of their capacity to digest fibre-rich feedstuffs (Boucque & Fiems, 1988)
It is a mixture of potato skins, starch, fats and yellow maize, containing 700 g starch/kg dry matter (DM), 11.2 MJ Metabolisable energy (ME)/kg, 105 g crude protein (CP) /kg DM, 369 g Neutral detergent fibre (NDF)/kg DM, and 162 g Acid detergent fibre (ADF) /kg DM (Nkosi et al, 2010a)
The DM of PH (188 g DM/kg) was not ideal for effective fermentation and warranted the addition of wheat bran (WB), increasing the DM to 352 g/kg, which is within the required range
Summary
Agro-industrial by-products from food processing industries can be less expensive sources of nutrients for ruminant feeding because of their capacity to digest fibre-rich feedstuffs (Boucque & Fiems, 1988). This reduces the dependency of ruminant nutrition on mixed cereals as the major energy source, which is usually costly, since cereals may have to be imported, especially in times of shortage (Briedenhann, 2008). Like other potato byproducts, contains low DM and WSCs (Nkosi et al, 2012a), which warrants the use of silage additives (McDonald et al, 2011). Nkosi et al (2010b) produced silage successfully from PH by mixing with wheat bran (WB) as an absorbent and CP source or by producing a total mixed ration that contained 800 g/kg PH
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