Ensiling of leguminous green forages in combination with different dry roughages and molasses

Abstract

Ensiling of combinations of leguminous green forage and dry roughage has been studied in laboratory silos (capacity 1 l). In Experiment 1, the effect of addition of molasses at different levels (0, 5 and 10% on a fresh basis) has been studied on a combination of green berseem ( Trifolium alexandrinum) and wheat straw (80:20 on a fresh basis). There was a significant decrease ( P<0.01) in pH, ammonia-N, total volatile fatty acids, dry matter disappearance and number of coliform bacteria, and a significant increase ( P<0.01) in titratable acidity and lactic acid on the addition of 5% molasses. Population of lactic acid bacteria and total plate count did not vary significantly in any of the treatments. However, there was no significant difference in the quality of silage at the 5 and 10% levels of molasses or at 40 and 80 days of fermentation. In Experiment 2, three different roughages, i.e. wheat straw, paddy straw and sugarcane bagasse, were ensiled in combination with green cowpea ( Vigna sinensis) and molasses (30:65:5 on a fresh basis). A low pH (<4.5) was obtained with all the three combinations. However, titratable acidity and lactic acid production was minimum in silage containing sugarcane bagasse. The in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of paddy straw and wheat straw containing mixtures increased on ensiling by 3.6 and 6.0%, respectively, while there was no change in IVDMD of the mixture containing sugarcane bagasse.