EFFECTS OF ENSILING TIME ON BANANA PSEUDO-STEM SILAGE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, FERMENTATION AND IN SACCO RUMEN DEGRADATION - C. F. Wanga; A. U. R. Muhammada; Z. Y. Liua; B. Z. Huangb; B. H. Caoa (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2016)
The study was planned to check the effect of time on dynamics of fermentation, chemical composition and rumen degradation in banana pseudo-stems silage (BPSS). For this purpose banana pseudo-stem (BPS) was ensiled for 0, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 days in polyethylene bags. Each time point had three replicates. After 0, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 days triplicate polyethylene bags were opened for chemical analysis and fermentation characteristics. Water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) significantly decreased (19.75±0.53, 7.25±0.09 g kg-1 at day 20 and 30 respectively) after ensiling (P<0.05) but consistency was achieved at 50 day of fermentation to onward. After 50 days of fermentation, crude protein (CP) was increased (52.45±0.63 g kg-1 at day 60) significantly (P<0.05). The pH decreased (P<0.05) at day 30 and consistency was achieved on the subsequent days. Ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) showed increasing trend at day 30 and 40 but there was no changing trend on the following days. Lactic acid production was increased (P<0.05) 31.22±0.42and 31.04±0.71 g kg-1 at day 30 and 40 respectively after ensiling and highest lactic acid production was noted at day 80 (51.97±3.09). Only small amounts of butyric acid, isobutyric acid, and propionic acid were detected in the BPS after 50 days. The rumen degradability of banana pseudo-stems (BPS) and BPSS at 80 days of fermentation were studied in sacco in three ruminally cannulated adult Xia’nan cattle (570 ± 23 kg) at 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 and 72 h of incubation periods. The effective degradability (ED) of BPS, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was higher than that of BPS0. Although the fermentation did not improve ED of DM and CP in BPS, a lower terminal pH, and higher concentration of lactic acid might enhance aerobic stability after opening the silage.
Keywords: journal article; banana pseudo-stem; silage; fermentation; ruminal degradability