In Vitro Gas Production Assessment of Ensiled Brachiaria Decumbens with Different Additives as Animal Feed During the Dry Season

Abstract

Scarcity of forages during the dry season in Nigeria has lingered. This study therefore assessed the nutritive quality of Brachiaria decumbens with additives prepared as silage using in-vitro gas production technique. Brachiaria decumbens was ensiled with four different additives. T1: 90% Brachiaria decumbens+ 10 %Yellow corn residue; T2: 90% Brachiaria decumbens+ 10% White maize residue; T3: 90% Brachiaria decumbens + 10% Guinea corn residue; T4: 90% Brachiaria decumbens + 10% Soy bean residue; T5: 100% Brachiaria decumbens and were incubated for in vitro gas production for 24 hours. Cumulative gas production was recorded at 3, 6,9,12, 15, 18, 21and 24 hr of incubation periods and the organic matter digestibility (OMD), short chain fatty acid (SCFA) and metabolisable energy (ME) were estimated. Results showed that the dry matter content of the silages ranged from 26.35 to 37.57%, the crude protein ranged from 7.30 to 10.00%, the ether extract ranged from 3.60 to 4.27%, The NDF, ADF and ADL were significantly (p<0.05) different among the different silages. The cumulative gas produced ranged between 13.00 and 18.67 ml/200mg DM. There were no significant difference in ME, OMD and SCFA of the silages. The estimated ME (MJ/Kg DM) for the silages ranged from 4.33 MJ/Kg DM to 5.19 MJ/Kg DM. The highest OMD (45.27%) was observed in T2 (Brachiaria decumbens ensiled with white maize residue) and the lowest (41.45%) value in T4 (Brachiaria decumbens ensiled with soy bean residue). The SCFA estimated from gas production were 0.35, 0.50,, 0.37, 0.33 and 0.45 ?Mol.