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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2017, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (5): 213-223.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2016276

• Orignal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Associative effects of cornstalk, millet straw, and corn stalk on silage digestibility in vitro

LI Yan1,*, HAN Xiao-Min2,*, LI Jian-Guo2, LI Qiu-Feng2, GAO Yan-Xia2, CAO Yu-Feng2, *, LI Yun-Qi2   

  1. 1.College of Veterinary Medicine, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, China;
    2.College of Animal Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding 071001, China
  • Received:2016-07-14 Revised:2016-09-07 Online:2017-05-20 Published:2017-05-20

Abstract: We investigated the associative effects of cornstalk (CS), millet straw (MS), and corn stalk silage (CSS) on silage digestibility using an in vitro rumen fermentation system. A single factor experiment was designed with CS and MS to identify the best CS-MS combination, then CSS was added in combination with CS-MS. First, CS and MS were tested at ratios of 100∶0, 80∶20, 60∶40, 50∶50, 40∶60, 20∶80 and 0∶100, with three replicates. Gas production (GP), rate of dry matter loss (DML), pH, microbial crude protein (MCP), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and volatile fatty acids (VFA) were measured for all the CS-MS combinations, and the single factor associative effects index and multiple factors associative effects index of different combinations were calculated. The results showed that GP and DML differed among the various combinations significantly (P<0.05) or extremely significantly (P<0.01). However, pH did not differ among the various combinations (P>0.05). The MCP yield differed significantly (P<0.05) or extremely significantly (P<0.01) among the different CS-MS combinations. The MCP yields of CS-MS combinations decreased with decreasing proportions of CS, while the MCP yields of the CS-MS-CSS (CS∶MS=60∶40) combinations increased with increasing proportions of CSS. There were significant (P<0.05) or extremely significant (P<0.01) differences in NH3-N concentrations among the various combinations, ranging from 17.35 mg/dL to 24.63 mg/dL. There were significant (P<0.05) or extremely significant differences (P<0.01) of VFA yield among the various combinations. In conclusion, the CS-MS ratio of 60∶40 and the CS-MS-CSS combination at the ratio of 12∶8∶80 produced the largest associative effects in this study.

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