Keten Tohumu Esansiyel Yağının Besleyici Değeri ve Karlılığı: Silolanmış Yoncanın Aromatik Bileşikleri ve Ruminal Fermentasyon Kinetiği

Abstract

Alfalfa is one of the most important sources of forage in the ruminant diet, cultivated widely around the world. However, many nutrient losses from alfalfa are due to the mechanical treatments during the drying and storage process. Therefore, feeding alfalfa as silage is an alternative way to prevent drying losses. The experiment's purpose was to evaluate the effect of adding different levels of flaxseed essential oils (FEO) on the chemical composition and in vitro degradability of alfalfa silage. Treatments were alfalfa silage with no additive (control) or treated with 60 or 120 ml/kg DM of flaxseed essential oils (FEO60, FEO120, respectively). Whole plant alfalfa silage was ensiled for 60 d in triplicate laboratory-scale tubes. Dry matter (DM) content was greater for FEO120 than control. Compared with control, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) concentration was decreased in FEO120. The addition of essential oils and their combination to the silage significantly decreased silage pH compared with untreated silage (P < .0001). Interestingly increased for all the silages containing essential oil compared with untreated silage. The addition of flaxseed essential oil to alfalfa silage increased the rate of disappearance of organic matter (OM) and dry matter (DM) in all treatments compared to the control treatment. The degradability potential of alfalfa silage has increased in treatments containing FEO (120 mg/kg DM). In general, the obtained data show that the FEO had positive effect on the quality of alfalfa silage and its nutritive characteristics.