EFFECTS OF ENSILING ON THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND MINERALS CONTENTS OF GUINEA GRASS AND CASSAVA TOPS SILAGE

Abstract

An experiment to determine the effects of ensiling on the physical properties, chemical composition and mineral contents of guinea grass and cassava tops silage was carried out between January and April, 2004. Cassava (Manihot esculentus var.Texas Cranz) tops and guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq var. Ntchisi) were ensiled alone and in mixture using plastic containers lined with polythene sheets. The experiment was a completely randomized design with three replicates comprising of the three plant mixtures i.e. cassava silage, guinea grass silage and mixture of the two. The result of the experiment showed that the silage from the three plant mixtures was similar physically. Although ensiling reduced the DM and CP contents slightly, the lower pH of between 3. 92 and 4. 38 showed that the silage was  well preserved with improved quality due to the drastic reduction in hydrocyanide (HCN) content of cassava tops. Mixing guinea grass and cassava top produced average qualities especially in terms of the structural carbohydrates such as ADF, NDF and lignin with HCN content reduced and increased CP content (25.48%) and minerals. Other properties such as DM, moisture, ash, organic kmatter, cellulose, hemicellulose, gross energy and pH were not significantly different in the silages from the three plant mixtures i.e. guinea grass, cassava tops and mixtures of guinea grass and cassava tops. It was concluded that mixing guinea grass with cassava tops improved the quality of silage produced that ensiling any of them sole.