Evaluation of mixtures of certain market wastes as silage

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of vegetable wastes as silage for ruminants. Varying amounts of wheat straw (WS), wheat bran (WB) and salt (S) were combined with minced vegetable wastes (VW) during ensilage. Seven different ingredient combinations were investigated viz: 100% VW (Group I, control), 90% VW+9% WS+1% S (Group II), 80% VW+15% WS+ 4% WB+1% S (Group III), 70% VW+20% WS+9% WB+1% S(Group IV), 90% VW+9% WB+1% S (Group V), 80% VW+15% WB+ 4% WS+1% S (Group VI) and 70% VW+20% WB+9% WS+1% S (Group VII). The inclusion of straw and bran increased (p<0.01) the DM content of silage. The highest contents of the pure silage were CP (p<0.001), EE (p<0.01) and NFE (p<0.05). NDF contents of VW silage and group V were significantly lower and especially tise VW silage was found to have the lowest ADL content (p<0.01). The in vitro ME values of VW silage and bran added silage were higher than other groups (p<0.01). pH, lactic acid and acetic acid values of silage groups were changed between 4.09-4.20, 2.43-3.46% and 0.60-0.86%, respectively. In conclusion, different mixtures of VW have a high ensilage capacity and can serve as an alternative roughage source for ruminants. The addition of 9% bran significantly improved the silage in view of both dry matter content and nutritive value.