Nutritive values of whole-crop wheat hay and silage and effect of microbial inoculants on in vitro gas production

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the nutritive value and in vitro gas production kinetics of wheat hay (WH) and wheat silage (WS) by using in vitro gas production technique and to determine the effects of microbial inoculant (Maize-All) on rumen fermentation and gas production parameters. There were no significant differences between WH and WS in terms of in vitro gas production kinetics and estimated parameters such as metabolizable energy (ME), net energy lactation (NE L) and organic matter digestibility (OMB). WH without Maize-All had higher ME, NE L and OMD values compared to WH with Maize-All. However, this difference was not found between WS without Maize-All and WS with Maize-All. The crude protein degradability of WH was significantly higher than that of WS (P<0.01). No difference in in vitro gas production between WH and WS was found. However, the reduction in gas production by the inclusion of Maize-All might be due to the change of microbial population in a negative way. The relative feed value (RFV) and dry matter intake (DM1) of WS were significantly higher than those of WH (P<0.01). The RFV of WS was significantly higher than that of WH. However, in vivo experiments are required to evaluate how these differences will affect the performance of ruminants. © GSP, India.