Chemical Quality and Digestibility Value in Silage of Pennisetum purpuphoides and Pennisetum purpureum Gamma with Different Levels of Molasses Supplementation

Abstract

This research was conducted to determine the chemical quality and digestibility of silage varieties of Pennisetum purpuphoides and Pennisetum purpureum gamma supplemented with molasses at different levels. The study was designed using a completely randomized design (CRD) 2 x 3 factorial pattern. The first factor was Pennisetum varieties consisting of P. purpuphoides and P. purpureum gamma radiation. The second factor was the level of molasses supplementation, i.e., 0, 3, and 6 %, with 5 replications on each group. The selected variable is the chemical characteristics of silage, i.e., pH, DM, OM, CP, CF, and NNFE, TDN, NH3, and lactic acid of silage. Pennisetum purpureum gamma and 6% molasses supplementation produce silage with good chemical quality. The increase in the level of supplementation of molasses is inversely proportional to the pH, crude fiber and NH3 silage (P<0.05). Varieties markedly decreased curing pH, NH3, crude fiber, and silage concentration (P<0.05). The content of lactic acid, DM, CP, crude fiber, TDN, and NNFE significantly increased linearly with an increase in the level of molasses supplementations (P<0.05) and also significantly decreased CF levels (P<0.05), but not significantly different from the OM content (P>0.05). Varieties that showed changes in some parameters of the proposed chemical composition is towards decreasing crude fiber (P<0.05), but significantly increased on the composition of DM, OM, CP, and NNFE (P<0.05). Besides molasses supplementation at the 6% level on P. purpureum gamma varieties, their combinations showed improvements to produce the best chemical quality and digestibility of silage.