Effect Of Silage Research Articles

A Study of Factors Affecting Rate of Intake of Heifers Fed Silage

Summary Dairy heifers were used to study factors that influence the rate of consumption of alfalfa silage. Consumption was linearly and positively related to dry matter content of the silage. However, this was shown to be a secondary relationship, since changing the dry matter content of silage or hay at time of feeding did not alter rate of consumption. It was concluded that the dry matter content of he forage when ensiled, and the resulting fermentation process, are very important factors in determining the rate of consumption of the resulting silage. In trials of a preliminary nature, adding limestone or other minerals, ammonium salts, molasses, commercial flavor preparations, concentrates, potassium orotate plus methionine, and an aureomycin-containing feed additive to silage had no effect on rate of silage consumption, whereas glucosamine, large amounts of lactic plus other silage acids, thyroprotein, and thiouracil had a depressing effect. The depressing effect of silage on intake is probably a metabolic effect on appetite and not a direct effect through palatability. Intake of silage and hay was reduced when the effluent liquid from a silo, aqueous extract of silage, residue after ether extraction of the effluent liquid, large quantities of lactic acid or lactic plus other silage acids, a mineral mixture, glucosamine, urea, or other ammonium salts were placed directly into the rumen. Similarly, hydrolyzed casein, tyramine, sucrose, water, acidic or basic ether soluble fractions of the silo effluent, or low levels of the silage acids had no such effect on intake. The desirability of further investigations is indicated.

The effect of silage prepared in different ways upon the ammonia content of the cow’s rumen ingesta

The effects on the ammonium content in the cow’s rumen ingesta exerted by four types of silage prepared in different ways have been mutually compared. The experimental animal, a fistulated cow, received a daily dose of 5 kg timothy hay, 1.3 kg protein concentrates, mineral salt mixture and 18 kg silage. The silage had been prepared: (1) with ammonium bisulphate (A.I.V. preservative salt), (2) with A.I.V. acid, (3) with Calcifor salt, and (4) without the addition of preservative. The mean ammonia concentrations of the rumen contents during the 12-hour period between feedings were, in the above-mentioned order, 0.903, 0.726, 0.683 and 0.705 mmol per 100 ml, respectively. When the three last-mentioned figures are employed as a basis of reference for the first, the ammonium nitrogen from the ammonium bisulphate retained in the fodder is found to have increased the ammonia concentration of the rumen contents by 0.177—0.220 mmol per 100 ml, equivalent to an increase by 24—32 % in the particular conditions of the experiment. The conclusion has been drawn that this has caused increased protein synthesis by the microbial flora of the rumen.