Abstract
The effect of wheat bran (WB) as a silage additive on chemical composition, in situ degradability and in vitro gas production of citrus pulp silage (CPS) was investigated. The whole fresh citrus pulp was manually chopped and used as untreated or treated with 6, 12, or 18 g WB/kg fresh citrus pulp for ensiling. The data were analyzed in a completely randomized design that showed experimental treatments had no significant effect on DM% of silages but with increasing WB, crude protein (CP%) linearly and quadratically increased (P 0.05). Result showed that with increasing WB, NDF concentration linearly increased (P 0.05). The fractional degradation rate ( c ) with increasing of WB significantly increased (P 0.05). Potential gas production ( b ) and fractional rate of gas production ( c ) demonstrated a linear and quadratic relationship (P < 0.05) with increasing WB. The organic matter digestibility (OMD), net energy (NEl), metabolisable energy (ME) and short chain fatty acids (SCFA) were significantly different between control group and treatments with WB (P < 0.05). This data suggest that the addition of WB to CPS can improve the nutritional value of citrus pulp silage without any adverse effects on this by-product. Keywords: Aerobic stability, citrus pulp silage, silage additive, degradability
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