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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2015, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (4): 104-113.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb20150412

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Quality of mixed naked oats (Avena nuda) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) silage

GE Jian1*, YANG Cui-Jun2, YANG Zhi-Min3, BAI Xue-Mei2, ZHAO Hai-Xiang4, LIU Gui-He1*   

  1. 1.College of Animal Science and Technology, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075131, China;
    2.Life Science Research Center, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China;
    3.Agricultural Institute of Zhangjiakou, Zhangjiakou 075131, China;
    4.College of Science, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
  • Received:2014-04-08 Revised:2014-06-10 Online:2015-04-20 Published:2015-04-20

Abstract: Using sun-dried or fresh alfalfa and naked oats as materials, five silages, including alfalfa silage, naked oats silage, three mix silage, (alfalfa∶naked oats =1∶1, alfalfa∶naked oats =1∶2 and alfalfa∶naked oats =2∶1), were prepared. After 60 days ensiling, the sensory score, fermentation quality and nutrition composition of silages were evaluated. The results revealed that silage made of fresh alfalfa showed a common performance in the sensory score and V-Score and Kaiser-Score evaluation system, while both silage made of sun-dried materials and mixed silage had a improved silage score. Sun-drying and mixing process had effect on silage quality, such as decreasing pH value, acetic acid (AA), propionic acid (PA), butyrate acid (BA) and ammonia nitrogen /total nitrogen (AN/TN) (P<0.01 or P<0.05) content of silages, significantly increasing lactate (LA) content (P<0.01or P<0.05) of silages. Among which, mixed silage of alfalfa and naked oats with a ratio of 2∶1 showed a biggest increasing and decreasing describe above. The sun-drying process had a significantly effect on the dry matter (DM), water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) and crude ash (Ash) content of silage, while had no effect on remaining nutrients. Notably, mixing process had significant effects on most of fermentative indexes, such as the content of crude protein (CP), water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (P<0.05 or P<0.01), whereas had no effect on other nutrient indexes. In conclusion, the interaction of sun-drying process to silage materials and mixed ratio can improve silage quality, while had no effect on nutrient composition of silages. According to the sensory score, fermentation quality, and nutrient content, the mixed and sun-dried materials can produce better silages than sole and fresh material, and silage made of naked oats and alfalfa with a ration of 2∶1 was the best.