The effect of drying and partial neutralization of grass silage on voluntary intake by sheep

Abstract

The experiment was carried out to provide information on the effect of drying and partial neutralization of direct cut grass silages on voluntary intake by sheep. It was designed as a 4 x 4 latin square comparison of four dietary treatments with four castrated Finnish Landrace rams. The DM content of the dried silage was 81.6 %. There were two levels of neutralization in the experiment: either 8 or 16 g of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) was mixed with the silages. The lower level of neutralization raised the silage pH from 3.95 to 4.36 and the higher level took it up to 5.57. Both the drying of silage and the addition of 16 g of NaHC03 produced a significant (P<0.05) increase in the DM intake by sheep. The average daily intake for animals on dried silage was 71.4 g DM/kgW0.75, on the 16 g neutralization level 62.7 g DM/kgW0.75, on the 8 g neutralization level 53.4 g DM/kgW0.75 and on untreated silage 52.4 g DM/kgW0.75. The sheep offered dried silage gained a significantly (P<0.05) larger amount of protein and energy than those on the other silage diets. The animals offered dried silage consumed 2,4 kg of water/DM kg daily and those offered untreated silage 0.7 kg.