1. Digestibility, methane production and chewing activity of steers fed whole-crop round bale corn silage preserved at three maturities
- Author
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Chuncheng Xu, Takehiro Nishida, Kenji Hosoda, Hiroki Matsuyama, Bayaru Eruden, and S. Shioya
- Subjects
Crop ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Agronomy ,Chemistry ,Silage ,Latin square ,Food spoilage ,Urea ,food and beverages ,Sowing ,Animal Science and Zoology ,Feces ,Cattle feeding - Abstract
The effects of the lengths of growth of round bale whole-crop corn silage on its nutritive value, the methane production, chewing time, and ruminal fermentation were evaluated in three Holstein steers (599.3 ± 31.5 kg). Corn forages were harvested, baled and wrapped on the same day at 129 (D129), 118 (D118) and 107 (D107) days from planting. All steers were fed the three corn silages along with urea at maintenance energy requirements during three 14-day periods in a 3 × 3 Latin square design. A balance trial was conducted to investigate whole tract digestibility by the collection of total feces and urine over a 7-day test period. For 2 days of the test period, a head hood-type respiration chamber was used to measure methane production. Ruminal fluid was collected immediately before and 3 h after, the morning feeding on the last day of the test period. There was no spoilage in any of the silages (n = 9). The average fresh weight of the bales was 326.4 ± 10.7 kg. The DM content of the corn silage was highest in D118 and lowest in D129 (P
- Published
- 2007
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