Forage Mass, Nutritive Value, and In situ Degradation of Sorghum Silage Treated with Fibrolytic Enzymes

Abstract

Core Ideas Xylanase and cellulase treatment of sorghum silage did not affect sorghum silage nutritive value. The brown midrib trait and harvest timing have more influence on silage quality than fibrolytic enzymes. Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.] and sorghum‐sudangrass (S. bicolor × S. bicolor drummondii) silage utilization in cattle diets has increased in recent years. The objectives of this study were to compare the forage mass and nutritive value of photoperiod‐sensitive (PS) sorghum and hybrid sister lines with or without the BMR trait, and determine if fibrolytic enzymes would improve the rate and extent of in situ disappearance of PS forage sorghum (FS) and PS sorghum‐sudagrass (SS) silage varieties with or without the brown midrib (BMR) trait (i.e., FS‐PS, FS‐PS/BMR, SS‐PS, and SS‐PS/BMR). This experiment was a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement whereby the crop was grown, chopped, and ensiled and inoculated with or without (control) the enzyme mixture. Yield was at least 1.6 ton/acre and nutritive value similar to that of similar cultivars. Mini‐silo buckets were sealed for 150 days, and dried silage material weighed into duplicate Dacron bags for in situ incubation for 0, 4, 8, 16, 24, 48, or 72 h in three ruminally cannulated Angus steers (679 ± 52.9 lb body weight [BW]) to determine rate and extent of dry‐matter (DM) disappearance. The addition of fibrolytic enzymes had little effect on the nutritive value of ensiled forage. Non‐BMR silage had a greater potentially degradable fraction; however, BMR varieties had a greater wash loss and extent of digestion. Based on our results, selecting a sorghum variety with the BMR trait may be more important than using a fibrolytic enzyme to improve silage degradation characteristics.

Ensilajes de triticale de alta humedad con aditivos químicos y biológicos: valores nutrimentales y comportamiento de ingesta en ovinos

“…In review, Oliveira et al (7) concluded that the divergences in results may be related, among other factors, to the different variations of the inoculant used, and also of the diet. Just like McCuistion et al (25) , with the addition of cellulase containing inoculant, it was expected that the fiber would be better utilized, which was not observed since it is a food with low contents of this component. In general, nutrient and dry matter digestibility of high moisture triticale silage were not affected (P>0.05; Table 5) by the addition of no additives, however, all diets showed dry matter digestibility compatible with high moisture corn and sorghum silage, which are the reference foods for this variable (26,27) .…”

Forages and pastures symposium: an update on in vitro and in situ experimental techniques for approximation of ruminal fiber degradation

“…With modeling, IV and IS techniques can bring together measures of fiber, which are laboratory measures, to in vivo apparent digestibility and intake, which are animal-influenced measures, as a proxy to expensive and time- and labor-consuming feeding trials, which require much larger amounts of feedstuffs and more animal experimental units. Ranking of IV or IS results can help determine forages in breeding programs that are most suitable for advancement ( Foster et al, 2007 ), impact of genetic traits on potential animal performance ( McCuistion et al, 2017 ), the ideal maturity stage for harvest ( Foster et al, 2012 ), harvested forage preservation method ( Foster et al, 2011 , 2012 ), harvested forage preservation aids such as enzyme or microbial applications before ensiling ( Thomas et al, 2013 , 2014 ; McCuistion et al, 2017 ; Foster et al, 2019 ), alternative uses of row crop residues ( Foster et al, 2012 , 2019 ), supplementation regimes ( Smith et al, 2017 ), and among many other applications.…”

Potential of Ensiling Sorghum without Grain Pretreated with Enzymes or Bacterial Inoculants

“…A reduction in NDF concentration of silage inoculated with a mixture of homo‐ and heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria is attributed to bacterial strains that provide ferulic acid esterase activity, resulting in greater hemicellulose disappearance (Morais et al, 2017). The effects of sorghum silage pretreatment are not consistent; there was no effect of either fibrolytic enzyme or lactic acid bacteria inoculant pretreatment when sorghum had lignin concentrations <30 g kg −1 (McCuistion et al, 2017). The impact of pretreatment with fibrolytic enzymes or heterofermentative lactic acid bacterial inoculants on sorghum silage without grain is unknown.…”