NUTRITIVE VALUE OF SILAGES UTILIZED IN BUFFALO NUTRITION Calabr, S.; Tudisco, R.; Grossi, M.; Gonzalez, O.J.

; Caiazzo, C.; Guglielmelli, A.; Piccolo, V.; Infascelli, F.; Cutrignelli, M.I. Dipartimento di Scienze Zootecniche e Ispezione degli alimenti, University of Naples Federico II, Via F. Delpino, 1 80137, Napoli (Italy) Tel +39 (0)81 2536053; serena.calabro@unina.it

SUMMARY: The trial was carried out on corn, oats, sorghum, triticale and barley silages in order to estimate their nutritive values (net energy for lactation; NEl) using several equations including parameters of chemical composition and of in vitro gas production technique (IVGPT). The equation: NEl (MJ/kg DM) = 0.54 + 0.0959 GP + 0.0038 CP + 0.0001733 CP2 (where GP is the gas produced after 24 h of incubation and CP the crude protein content of substrate) was the most adequate for all the silages, even if this methods always underestimated the NEl compared to the I.N.R.A. method. KEYWORDS: nutritive value, IVGPT, silages. INTRODUCTION Corn silage, the main forage in the diets of buffalo cows in South of Italy, shows some weak aspects (i.e. high contamination with aflatoxins, corn parasites and high cost of irrigation). Thus, there is an interest for studying the total or partial replacing of corn silage with other silages1. However, the quality of silages, particularly their nutritive values, is strongly affected by several factors like water availability and stage of maturity. In vivo evaluation is the best estimation method of feeds nutritional value, but in vitro methods are less time consuming and allow more control of experimental conditions. The in vitro gas production (IVGPT) technique has been proposed for estimate the energy value of feeds2 based on the assumption that the gas produced at 24 h by a substrate incubated with rumen liquor is proportional to the digestible carbohydrates. Aim of the present trial was to estimate the nutritive values of silages utilized in buffalo nutrition by using equations where parameters of chemical composition and of IVGPT are included.

MATERIALS AND METHODS The trial was carried out on five forages: corn (Zea mais L.) class FAO 400 (CS), oats (Avena sativa L.) harvested at milky maturation of grain (OS), sorghum (Sorghum vulgare L.) variety BMR 333 (SS), triticale (var. Mizar) harvested at milky-dough maturity (TS) and whole-crop barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) harvested at milky-waxy maturation of grain (BS). The forages collected at 40% DM approximately, were chopped to a 2-cm length and well pressed in 5 litres polyvinyl micro-silos. After 40 days, the silages were dried at 65C and ground to pass 1 mm screen; dry matter (DM), ash, crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE) and crude fibre (CF) were determined3 as well as Neutral detergent fibre (NDF), Acid detergent fibre (ADF) and lignin (ADL) 4. For the in vitro trial, 1.0113 0.0126 g of each silage was incubated in triplicate at 39C under anaerobiosis for 24 h with buffered rumen fluid collected from three buffaloes at slaughter5. The nutritive value of the silages (net energy for lactation; NEl, MJ/kg DM) was estimated using several equations, however only the following three were considered adequate: n. 13a) NEl = -3.49 + 0.0663 GP + 0.0095 CP + 0.0228 EE + 0.0079 NDF n. 14f) NEl = 1.68 + 0.1418 GP + 0.0049 CP + 0.0130 EE + 0.0010 ash n. 16e) NEl = 0.54 + 0.0959 GP + 0.0038 CP + 0.0001733 CP2 where GP is the gas produced after 24 h of incubation (ml/200 mg DM) and CP, EE, NDF and ash are the nutrient content in the silages (g/kg DM). The NEl was also estimated from chemical composition according to the French method6. In order to identify the most suitable equation, the correlation between the two methods were also studied and the differences among the nutritive value of the silages were statistically assessed7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION As expected, the proteins of the five silages (table 1) were quite low; the highest value was found in BS (CP: 9.62 % DM). The cell wall carbohydrates were consistent with the average contents commonly found in the silages produced in Southern Italy; lignin in oats and barley silages was particularly high (ADL: 5.70 and 5.99 % DM, respectively). The nutritive value of the five silages

showed in each case a not linear trend (figure 1). The equations n. 13a, 14f and 16e showed significant correlation (P<0.01) with the French method (correlation coefficient: -0.724, 0.7068 and 0.9522, respectively). The gas produced at 24 h of incubation and the nutritive value of the five silages are reported in table 2. According to Eq. n. 13a the NEl was statistically (P<0.01) lower for corn and barley silages (3.93 and 4.15 MJ/kg DM, respectively) while NEl from Eq. n. 14f was statistically (P<0.01) lower only in the case of barley (4.15 MJ/kg DM) compared to the other silages. According to Eq. n. 16e, the NEl was statistically (P<0.01) higher in corn and triticale silages (4.50 and 4.83 MJ/kg DM, respectively). This last equation has been used also by other authors1 and emerged as the most adequate in estimating the NEl of the five silage, even if always underestimated the nutritive values compared to the French method. Table 1. Chemical composition (% DM) of the tested silage DM Ash CP EE CF NDF 22.60 8.79 8.60 3.41 39.25 53.09 54.90 8.89 5.24 2.69 33.70 62.80 28.00 9.75 7.66 3.29 35.06 63.01 35.60 5.95 8.60 1.18 31.85 59.59 26.50 7.73 9.62 2.92 34.70 65.71

Silage CS OS SS TS BS

ADF 36.18 44.20 40.72 38.22 40.24

ADL 4.32 5.70 3.61 3.81 5.99

CS: corn silage, OS: oats silage, SS: sorghum silage, TS: triticale silage, BS: barley silage. DM: dry matter, CP: crude protein, EE: ether extract, CF: crude fiber, NDF: neutral detergent fiber, ADF: acid detergent fiber, ADL: acid detergent lignin.

Figure 1. Net energy for lactation for the five silages

6.00 5.00
NEl, MJ/kg DM

13a

14f

16e

INRA

4.00 3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 CS OS SS

Silage

TS

BS

CS: corn silage, OS: oats silage, SS: sorghum silage, TS: triticale silage, BS: barley silage. 13a, 14f, 16e: equations reported by (Menke and Steingass, 1988). INRA: Net energy for lactation estimated according to I.N.R.A. (1987).

Table 2. Gas production and net energy for lactation for the five silages NEl Silage GP 24 h 13a 14f 16e INRA ml/200 mg DM MJ/kg DM CS 24.57 3.93B 4.87A 4.50A 4.68 A A B OS 28.33 4.46 4.78 3.93 4.31 SS 21.95 4.42A 4.53A 3.95B 4.51 TS 27.75 4.15B 4.73A 4.83A 4.89 A B B BS 16.04 4.34 4.15 4.05 4.46
CS: corn silage, OS: oats silage, SS: sorghum silage, TS: triticale silage, BS: barley silage. equation to estimate NEl. GP 24 h: gas produced at 24 h of incubation. A,B: P<0.01. MSE: mean square error.

MSE

0.0092

0.0144

0.019

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors wish to thank the Barchiesi Farm,(Cassino, FR Italy) where the trial was performed. REFERENCES 1. Colombo D, Crovetto GM, Colombini S, Galassi G, Rapetti L. 2007. Nutritive value of different hybrids of sorghum forage determined in vitro. Ita J Anim Sci (6): 289-291. 2. Menke KH, Raab L, Salewski A, Steingass H, Fritz D, Schneider W. 1979. The estimation of the digestibility and metabolizable energy content of ruminant feedingstuffs from the gas production when they are incubated with rumen liquor in vitro. J Agric Sci Camb 93:217222. 3. AOAC, 2000. Official Methods of Analysis, 17th edn. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Arlington, VA. 4. Van Soest PJ, Robertson JB, Lewis BA. 1991. Methods for dietary fiber, neutral fiber and non-starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. J Dairy Sci 74:473481. 5. Calabr S, Carone F, Cutrignelli MI, DUrso S, Piccolo G, Tudisco R, Angelino G, Infascelli F. 2006. The effect of haymaking on the neutral detergent soluble fraction of two intercropped forages cut at different growth stages. Ital J Anim Sci 327-339. 6. INRA, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (1987), Alimentation des Bovins, Ovins et Caprins. ED. Jarrige R., Paris 7. SAS\STAT, 2000. Users Guide, Version 6.03. SAS Institue Inc., Cary, NC, USA.