Three experiments were conducted to determine the effects of cattle age and dietary forage level on the utilization of corn fed whole or ground to feedlot cattle. In Exp. 1, 16 steers were used to investigate the effects of cattle age and corn processing on diet digestibility. Two cattle age categories were evaluated (weanling [254 +/- 20 kg BW] and yearling [477 +/- 29 kg BW]; eight steers per...

Whole-plant corn was harvested at early dent, quarter milkline, two-thirds milkline, and black layer stages to evaluate the effects of maturity on intake, digestion, and milk production when corn was fed as silage in the diet. Twenty multiparous Holstein cows were used in a replicated experiment with a 4 x 4 Latin square design with 28-d periods. Diets containing 50% forage (67% corn silage and...

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary forage type and concentrate-to-forage ratio (CTFR) on CH4 emissions from dairy cows in China using the SF6 tracer method. Rumen fluid concentrations of NH4-N and VFA, rumen fluid pH, and daily milk yield were measured as well. The dietary regimens included: corn stalks (dry corn stalks after corn harvest) as the forage source at CTFR o...

Introduction The large proportion of CP in alfalfa silage (AS) that is present as NPN substantially reduces the efficiency of protein utilization by lactating dairy cows (Nagel and Broderick, 1992). Red clover silage (RCS) typically has a much lower content of NPN than AS (Albrecht and Muck, 1991). In a previous feeding study (Broderick and Sterrenburg, 1996 USDFRC Res. Sum.), we found that DMI...

The primary goal of making silage is to maximize the preservation of original nutrients in the forage crop for feeding at a later date. Unfortunately, fermentation in the silo is a very uncontrolled process usually leading to less than optimal preservation of nutrients. In order to assist in the fermentation process, various silage additives have been used to improve the nutrient and energy rec...

This study was carried out to compare in situ and in vitro enzyme techniques for determining estimates of forage escape proteins. Eight forages (vetch hay, wheat silage, corn silage, wheat hay, grass hay, lentil straw, triticale hay and alfalfa hay) were used as feed materials. During 70 h, incubation with enzyme method had similar escape protein values for vetch hay, wheat hay, grass hay, trit...

Knický, M. 2005. Possibilities to improve silage conservation effects of crop, ensiling technology and additives. Doctoral thesis. ISSN 1652-6880, ISBN 91-576-6961-9. The objective of this thesis was to investigate factors to improve the silage quality of different types of forage crops. The focus was on the influence of crop maturity, silage additives and laceration on the quality of whole-cro...

A key objective of forage preservation as hay or Extensive degradation of protein during fermentation of high-prosilage is to minimize quality and dry matter (DM) tein crops reduces efficiency of dietary N utilization in ruminants. losses. A major disadvantage to preserving forage as Evidence suggests that enhanced levels of fermentable carbohydrates hay is the risk of exposure to adverse weath...

Corn silage is a palatable high energy, low protein forage that is used in most dairy rations across the US. The usage of corn silage has grown over the last decade. Seed companies have focused breeding activities on corn silage hybrids resulting in corn silage hybrid differences that rival other species in nutritional differences. When making decisions about the quality of corn silage, dairy p...

Rice cultivation generates large amount of crop residues of which only 20% are utilized for industrial and domestic purposes. In most developing countries especially southeast Asia, rice straw is used as part of feeding ingredients for the ruminants. However, due to its low protein content and high level of lignin and silica, there is limitation to its digestibility and nutritional value. To ut...