Abstract
The quality of farm-scale alfalfa silages
Highlights
Animal productivity depends on the nutrient composition of the ration presented to the animal as well as on the quality of feed ingredients (Ward, 2008; Steinshamn, 2010)
Alfalfa silages were evaluated on the base of nutritional value, the result of fermentation process and silage quality according to Škultéty (1999)
We found that 30% of the samples had a dry matter content of less than 350 g kg-1
Summary
Animal productivity depends on the nutrient composition of the ration presented to the animal as well as on the quality of feed ingredients (Ward, 2008; Steinshamn, 2010). If is intake problems due to silages with excessively high acetic acid (>5–6% of dry matter), the amount of that silage should be reduced in the total mixed ration (Baumont, 1996; Kung, 2010; Daniel et al, 2013). Silages high in butyric acid are usually low in nutritive value and have higher acidodetergent fiber and neutraldetergent fiber levels because many of the soluble nutrients have been degraded. Such silages may be high in concentrations of soluble proteins and may contain small protein compounds called amines that have sometimes shown to adversely affect animal performance. If the high ammonia contributes to an excess of ruminally-degraded protein (RDP), this could have negative consequences on milk
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
