Forage quality on family farms in Croatia corn silage quality on family farms
The aim of the applied research project: “Forage evaluation by NIR spectroscopy” was to monitor the nutritive value of grass silage, corn silage and hay on family farms in Croatia over 6-month feeding (from November 2003 to May 2004). In this paper the nutritive value of corn silage on 19 dairy fami...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Croatian Dairy Union
2004-06-01
|
| Series: | Mljekarstvo |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=3958 |
| Summary: | The aim of the applied research project: “Forage evaluation by NIR spectroscopy” was to monitor the nutritive value of grass silage, corn silage and hay on family farms in Croatia over 6-month feeding (from November 2003 to May 2004). In this paper the nutritive value of corn silage on 19 dairy family farms from 5 counties was investigated. Extension service staff recommended dairy nutrition based on monthly silage analysis by NIRS instrument (Foss, Model 6500). Scottish calibration models had been applied and determined: dry matter corrected (DM), organic matter (OM) crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), metabolizable energy (ME), pH value, fermented ME in ME (FME/ME), starch and digestibility of OM in DM (D-value). The results show high DM (391.78 g kg-1), starch (335.13 g kg-1ST) and NDF (425.33 g kg-1ST) content. In average the silage was stabile (pH 3.7), had suitable FME/ME content (0.81) and good digestibility (D-value 71.6%), but of low CP content (65.19 g kg-1). Statistically significant differences (P<0.05) were observed for DM, OM, CP, NDF, pH, starch and FME/ME. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0026-704X 1846-4025 |