• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1252-1264
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• 2020

Objective: To effectively utilize crop by-product resources to address the shortage of animal feed during the dry season in Africa, the community of natural lactic acid bacteria (LAB) of corn stover and sugarcane tops and fermentation characteristics of silage were studied in Mozambique. Methods: Corn stover and sugarcane tops were obtained from agricultural field in Mozambique. Silage was prepared with LAB inoculant and cellulase enzyme and their fermentation quality and microbial population were analyzed. Results: Aerobic bacteria were the dominant population with 10⁷ colony-forming unit/g of fresh matter in both crops prior to ensiling, while 10⁴ to 10⁷ LAB became the dominant bacteria during ensiling. Lactobacillus plantarum was more than 76.30% of total isolates which dominated silage fermentation in the LAB-treated sugarcane top silages or all corn stover silages. Fresh corn stover and sugarcane tops contain 65.05% to 76.10% neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and 6.52% to 6.77% crude protein (CP) on a dry matter basis, and these nutrients did not change greatly during ensiling. Corn stover exhibits higher LAB counts and water-soluble carbohydrates content than sugarcane top, which are naturally suited for ensiling. Meanwhile, sugarcane tops require LAB or cellulase additives for high quality of silage making. Conclusion: This study confirms that both crop by-products contain certain nutrients of CP and NDF that could be well-preserved in silage, and that they are potential roughage resources that could cover livestock feed shortages during the dry season in Africa.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.22-26
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• 2005

Four male crossbred beef steers about 2 years old were used in a 4$\{times}$4 Latin square design to investigate the effect of pelleted sugarcane tops on voluntary feed intake, rumen fermentation and digestibility of nutrients. Experimental treatments were; Control (dried-chopped sugarcane tops (DCST)); PS1 (Pelleted sugarcane tops at 1 cm of diameter); PS2 (Pelleted sugarcane tops at 2 cm of diameter) and PS3 (Pelleted sugarcane tops at 3 cm of diameter). Roughage intake and total dry matter intake were 1.59, 1.62, 1.61, 1.63% BW and 2.09, 2.12, 2.11 and 2.13% BW in control, PS1, PS2 and PS3 treatments, respectively (p<0.05). Digestibility of DM, OM and CP were similar in control and PS3 treatment but there was significant difference (p<0.05) between control and PS1, PS2 treatments. Digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were 52.89, 50.01, 50.05 and 50.56% and 41.91, 39.96, 39.91 and 39.69% in control, PS1, PS2 and PS3, respectively (p<0.05). Total volatile fatty acids concentrations in rumen contents was 67.68, 65.93, 66.15 and 66.67 mM in control, PS1, PS2 and PS3, respectively (p<0.05). Even though, concentrations of acetate and butyrate (%) were significant different (p<0.05) but concentration of propionate (%) was not affected by treatments (p>0.05). Rumen pH, ammonia nitrogen and plasma urea nitrogen were significantly different (p<0.05) among treatments. From this experiment, it was found that dried-chopped sugarcane tops increased digestibility of nutrients whereas pelleted sugarcane tops increased feed intake in beef cattle. However, pelleted sugarcane tops at 3 cm of diameter did similar result in digestibility and rumen parameters with DCST. Therefore, it could be concluded that pelleting sugarcane top is an alternative way to improve the quality of sugarcane tops for use as ruminant roughage source.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1294-1299
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• 2002

The study aimed to evaluate the influence of molasses in ensiling cassava and Gliricidia tops, common crop residues in the farming systems of Vietnam. Four levels of sugarcane molasses: 0, 30, 60 and 90 kg per tonne of fresh material, and two storage periods (2 and 4 months) for each of the two plant species: Cassava (Manihot esculenta, Crantz) and Gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium, Jacq.) were allocated in a 4${\times}$2 factorial completely randomized block design with 3 replicates. A total of 48 plastic bags, each one containing 10 kg herbage were used. Based on the colour, smell and mold appearance, all the silages were considered to be acceptable but with more spoiled silages with higher levels of additives. DM of herbages (25.8% and 22.4% in cassava and Gliricidia tops, respectively) were not changed during ensiling and the molasses additive had no significant effect on the silage DM. Contents of CP and NDF in the cassava tops silage decreased significantly with increased level of molasses and storage period, respectively. The mean pH values of non-molasses silages were 4.39 in cassava tops and 4.60 in Gliricidia tops. Increased additive levels significantly reduced silage pH in Gliricidia (p<0.01) but not in cassava tops silage (p=0.10). Longer storage period significantly reduced pH in both silages. The water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentrations of cassava tops and Gliricidia tops were reduced by 90 and 80%, respectively, after ensiling. Molasses addition increased significantly the silage WSC concentrations. HCN contents in the fresh cassava and Gliricidia tops were reduced by 68 and 43%, respectively, after 2 months ensiling, and were continuously reduced during storage. A reduction of 25% and 42% in the tannin content of fresh cassava and Gliricidia tops, respectively was found after ensiling. Storage time and molasses additive had little affect on the tannin content. Silage lactic acid concentrations were around 1,0% of DM in cassava and 1.7% of DM in Gliricidia top silages, and no effect of molasses additive and storage time was found. It is concluded that cassava and Gliricidia tops residues can be preserved successfully by ensiling, and only low levels of molasses additive are needed to improve silage fermentation.