FEEDING VALUE OF GRASS SILAGES BASED ON DRY MATTER CONCENTRATION

Abstract

Total of 477 grass silage samples of different origin and quality were analysed by NIR spectroscopy to determine crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), digestible organic matter (OM) in the dry matter (DM) (D-value), metabolizable energy (ME), pH value and the ammonium nitrogen (NH3-N). According to DM content (g kg-1 fresh sample), the samples were divided into 8 classes: (1)> 228; (2) 229-313; (3) 314-398; (4) 399-483; (5) 484-568; (6) 569-653; (7i) 654-738; (8) 0.005) in NDF and pH value. It was concluded that increased DM concentration in silage samples was not a result of –grass wilting before ensiling but of advanced grass maturity at harvest.

Keywords

• grass silage
• grass maturity
• dry matter
• chemical composition