Chemical changes in sunflower silage associated with different additives

Abstract

Thirty-six experimental silos arranged in a completely randomized 4 x 3 factorial design were provided to evaluate the chemical changes of sunflower silage treated with soybean hulls, sunflower crushed and urea at 14, 21 and 28 days of ensilage. The additives were based on 5% natural matter, whereas control consisted of silage with 100% sunflower plant. OM, NDIP, and MM had average rates 911.2; 86.6 and 92.9 g kg-1 of dry matter respectively. The addition of soybean hulls and sunflower crushed increased DM rates after 28 and 21 days. Urea increased nitrogen fractions and the addition of soybean hulls increased total carbohydrate content of silage by 5.1%, whereas the addition of sunflower crushed decreased the same by 2.18%. NDF, ADF and hemicellulose average rates were 625.4, 460.3 and 165.2 g kg-1 of DM. The addition of soybean hulls and sunflower crushed reduced the in vitro dry matter digestibility by 8.3 and 5.97%. The addition of 5% sunflower crushed and soybean hulls improved the nutritional value of sunflower silage and the addition of urea improved the protein rates.

Effect of the inclusion of sunflower silage for cows in small-scale dairy systems in the highlands of Mexico

“…Values for CP, NDF, ADF and IVDMD of the pasture are similar to reports from literature in the highlands of central Mexico (Celis-Alvarez et al, 2016; Plata-Reyes et al, 2018). The early harvest of sunflower resulted in a silage of similar quality as that of maize silage; although DM content in SFS was less than 250 g DM/kg recommended of a good ensiling process (Goes et al, 2013;Khan et al, 2015). However, these conditions did not affect seriously silage fermentation since pH was 4.5 in spite of a low DM, which indicate adequate ensiling conditions.…”