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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (7): 93-100.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2020264

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Effects of different roughage combinations on in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics of Jinnan cattle

Dan-dan ZHANG(), Yuan-qing ZHANG(), Jing CHENG, Guang JIN, Bo LI, Dong-cai WANG, Fang XU, Rui-feng SUN   

  1. College of Animal Science,Shanxi Agricultural University,Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Science,Taiyuan 030032,China
  • Received:2020-06-08 Revised:2020-11-16 Online:2021-07-20 Published:2021-06-03
  • Contact: Yuan-qing ZHANG

Abstract:

The objective of this experiment was to study the effects of different roughage combinations of whole plant corn silage, wheat straw, and alfalfa silage on rumen in vitro fermentation characteristics of Jinnan cattle. Whole plant corn silage, wheat straw, and alfalfa silage were fermented in different ratios (80∶10∶10, 70∶10∶20, 70∶20∶10, 60∶10∶30, 60∶20∶10, 60∶30∶10, 50∶10∶40, 50∶20∶30, 50∶30∶20, 50∶40∶10, 0∶100∶0, 100∶0∶0, 0∶0∶100, respectively). Gas production (GP), in vitro dry matter degradation rate (IVDMD), pH, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and volatile fatty acid (VFA) were measured, and the single factor associative effects index (SFAEI) and multiple factors associative effects index (MFAEI) of the different feedstuff ratios were calculated. It was found that GP differences among the different roughage combinations were extremely significant (P<0.01). The GP gradually increased with increase in the proportion of whole plant corn silage; the pH of each group was maintained at 6.68-6.89 (P<0.01) and NH3-N was 14.31-26.01 mg·100 mL-1 P<0.01). With the proportion of whole plant corn silage constant, IVDMD increased as the proportion of alfalfa silage was increased. Differences in rumen VFA levels among the different feedstuff ratios were also extremely significant (P<0.01). The concentration of acetic acid and total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) in the 60∶30∶10 formulation was significantly higher than in other formulations (P<0.05), and the concentration of propionic acid was also the highest (13.99 mmol·L-1) in this formulation. The ratio of acetic acid to propionic acid ranged from 2.76-3.20, and there was no significant difference between the formulations (P>0.05). The MFAEI of the various feed formulations was positive, and the MFAEI of the 70∶20∶10 formulation was the highest (0.9343). In conclusion, in this study, the largest associative effects occurred when the proportion of whole plant corn silage, wheat straw and alfalfa silage was, respectively, 70∶20∶10.

Key words: whole plant corn silage, wheat straw, alfalfa silage, associative effects, in vitro gas production