Nutrient content and fermentation characteristics of ensiled Italian ryegrass and winter cereal mixtures for dairy cows

The interest in new alternative foragesin Europe has increased in recent years. The nutritional composition andfermentation characteristics during different stages of ensiling were studiedwith Italian ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum Lam.) and winter cerealmixtures. The trial was carried out on a large-scale farm GalgamentiAgricultural Limited Company, Tura, Hungary. Two different forage mixes werestudied: Mixture A (three types of Italian ryegrass 40% + two types of triticale20%+ two types of oats 20%+ wheat 15%+ barley 5%) and Mixture B (three types ofItalian ryegrass 55% + two types of winter oats 45%). Experimental field was30.600 m 2 by the treatments, respectively. The twodifferent forage mixes were sown on 11th September 2017(Mixture A: 75 kg seed/ha; Mixture B: 75 kg seed/ha) with depth of 2-5 cm.Plant protection treatment was not applied during the growing season. Cuttingwas carried out in heading stage of triticale by hand at 10 cm stubble height.The fresh Mixture A (dry matter 189 g/kg; crude protein: 161 g/kg DM; NDF: 485g/kg DM) and the fresh Mixture B (dry matter 195 g/kg; crude protein: 159 g/kgDM; NDF: 519 g/kg DM) were wilted to 28-32% DM (24h) without any movement onthe windrow. The wilted forage was picked up by hand and chopped by a forage harvester (John Deere 7300) onconcrete surface with theoretical chop length of 9 mm (weight: 800 kg). Wiltedand chopped material of 510 g were packed by hand into a glass jars (0.00072 m3 volume, n=5, total no. of minisilos = 15). Fivelaboratory silos per mixtures were opened on 7, 14 and 90 days after ensiling.Dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF), neutral detergent fiber(NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), ether extract(EE), ash, and total sugar of all treatments were determined. Additionally, pHand the concentration of ammonia-N, volatile fatty acids were measured in theensiled mixtures. At the end of 90 days of ensiling in both mixture silages,there were significant differences (p<0.05) in all nutrient contents exceptfor ADF in Mixture A and CP, ash and CF in Mixture B which was not affected byfermentation duration. Ensiling caused a significant decrease in pH(p<0.05), due to the production of lactic acid and succeeded to achievelactic acid type fermentation. Values for ammonia-N, ethanol and acetic acid,butyric acid were all low. These results indicated that the fermentationquality of Italian ryegrass and winter cereal silages underwent rapid fermentationand were well-preserved.