Evaluation of festulolium (×Festulolium Braunii) ‘Paulita’ haylage in dairy cows: Nutritive value, dry matter intake, animal performance and rumen degradability

Abstract

We compared haylage prepared from festulolium (×Festulolium Braunii) ‘Paulita’ (a cultivar with high flooding tolerance) with those from festulolium ‘Evergreen’ (a standard cultivar in Japan) and timothy (Phleum pratense L.) ‘Nosappu’ (a common early-maturing cultivar in Japan), in terms of chemical composition, short-term (during the first hour after the start of the morning meal) and daily intakes, animal performance and rumen degradability in dairy cows. Fermentation of the forages was depressed, leading to low concentrations of lactic acid and volatile fatty acids. ‘Paulita’ haylage showed a significantly higher content of total digestible nutrients than ‘Evergreen’ and ‘Nosappu’ haylages. Short-term intake rate of haylage and daily voluntary intake of feeds were higher for ‘Paulita’ than for ‘Evergreen’. The in sacco potential dry matter degradability and the disappearance of neutral detergent fiber at 96 h were highest for the ‘Paulita’ haylage. Milk yield was highest in animals fed the ‘Paulita’ diet. We conclude that ‘Paulita’ haylage has adequate nutritive value and can be ingested by dairy cows more efficiently than haylages prepared from the common temperate grasses.