Chemical composition, fermentative characteristics, and in situ ruminal degradability of elephant grass silage containin
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Chemical composition, fermentative characteristics, and in situ ruminal degradability of elephant grass silage containing Parkia platycephala pod meal and urea Luana Andrade Costa 1 & Marcos Jácome de Araújo 1 & Ricardo Loiola Edvan 1 & Leilson Rocha Bezerra 1 & Alex Rodrigues de Sousa 1 & Francisca Jakeline Carvalho Viana 1 & Tairon Pannunzio Dias-Silva 1 Received: 24 February 2020 / Accepted: 10 September 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the addition of Parkia platycephala pod meal (PP) and urea on the chemical composition, fermentation characteristics, and in situ ruminal degradability of elephant grass silage. A completely randomized design with a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement was adopted, with four levels of pod meal (0, 10, 20, and 30%) and two levels of urea (0 and 1.5%) on as fed basis. The produced silages were evaluated in terms of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), mineral matter (MM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), hemicellulose, ammonia nitrogen, pH, short chain fatty acids, and in situ ruminal degradability. For the study of degradation, four Santa Ines rumen fistulated sheep, with average weight of 45 ± 2.5 kg were used. The association of the additives increased (p < 0.05) DM, CP, DM degradability, fractions a, b, and effective degradability at all passage rates (2, 5, and 8%/h) and reduced NDF and ADF contents. DM disappearance increased (p < 0.05) during the incubation time, especially for the silages containing the two additives. The interaction in the rumen environment is essential for microbial multiplication. Thus, the use of additives such as PP and urea contributed to the availability of digestible fractions of the feed and greater use by ruminal microorganisms. The association of Parkia platycephala with urea improves the fermentation characteristics, chemical composition, and degradability of elephant grass silage. Keywords Dry matter . Neutral detergent fiber . pH . Short chain fatty acids
Introduction Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) is considered one of the most important tropical forages because of its high potential for biomass production, easy adaptation, and good acceptability by animals. In addition, it is widely used for silage production due to its high productivity (Rocha et al. 2006; Sifeeldein et al. 2018). When not intended for storage, it is used by cutting, mostly unplanned, resulting in uneven use of the planted material, causing a supply of low-quality material. However, due to the high moisture content and low soluble carbohydrates content of the elephant grass during storage in * Tairon Pannunzio Dias-Silva [email protected] 1
Department of Animal Science, Federal University of Piauí, Rodovia Municipal Bom Jesus-Viana, km 01, Planalto Horizonte, Bom Jesus, Piauí 64900000, Brazil
the silo, undesired fermentation or loss of nutrients from the ensiled mass may occur (Gonçalves et al. 2006), with higher production of acetic and butyric acids, ammonia nitrog
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