Effect of drying and different methods of ensiling on the feeding value of alfalfa [electronic resource].

Includes references.

Third and fourth cuts of alfalfa forage were conserved as green, hay or ensiled either untreated or treated with 0.31 8 HCHO/100g OM or 2.8 g formic acid/100 g OM and fed to Zaraibi buks weighed 50 kg on average. The obtained results indicated that treated silages either with HCHO or HCOOH contained higher values of OM, EE, NFE and NSC than those of green and hay alfalfa forms. The treated ensiled alfalfa contained higher values of OM, CP, EE and NSC, while it contained lower values of NFE, ash and NOF compared to the untreated silage. Treaded alfalfa silages tended to have higher desirable fermentation represented in low pH, butyric acid and higher lactic acid content compared to the untreated silage. Protein solubility decreased with the reduction of NPN and NH3 in the treated silages as well. Feed intake in terms of OM, TON and OOM significantly (P<O.05) improved in the ensiled forage compared to the green and hey ones. The relative feeding value (RFV) and- both of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) of ensiled alfalfa increased than those of green and hey alfalfa. This accompanied with a reduction in effective neutral detergent fiber (eNOF) values, specially with increased NSC content of HCOOH-treated silages. The alfalfa silages diets contained the highest (P<0.05) values of digestibility coefficients for all nutrients, except for EE in green alfalfa which recorded the highest but without significant difference with HCOOH-treated silage. . Rumen liquor pH and total VFA recorded the highest (P<0.05) values with green alfalfa diet and significantly decreased with HCOOH and HCHO-treaded diets. The NH3-N concentration was impaired (P<0.05) with untreated silage and the lowest with alfalfa hey. All animals were in positive N-balance and percentage of N-balance to N-intake or digested were the heights (P<0.05) with HCHO- and HCOOH-treated silages. It could be concluded the formaldehyde treatment for alfalfa silage is more effective in reducing its NOF content and increasing its NSC content which reflected positively on fermentation in the rumen and improving feed utilization compared to the other tested forms of alfalfa.

Summary in Arabic.

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