Assessment of nutritive value, gas and methane production, fermentation of ensiled mixtures of sorghum--cluster bean.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different mixture ratios of sorghum (S) and cluster bean (CB) on fermentation parameters, nutritional composition, and gas-methane production of mixture silages. Five different mixture ratios (100%S, 75%S+25%CB, 50%S+50CB, 25%S+75%CB and 100%CB) were used in this study. Effects of mixture ratios on entire parameters were highly significant (p ≤ 0.01). Decreasing ADF and NDF ratios and increasing crude protein, ash and oil contents and condensed tannin levels were observed with increasing cluster bean ratios of the mixtures. However, cluster beans reduced WSC and lactic acid and increased pH, butyric acid and ethanol contents. The lowest Fleig score was obtained from cluster bean silage (100%CB). The lowest gas-methane production was obtained from cluster bean silage and the greatest ME and NEL values were obtained from sorghum silage (100%S). The best OMD values were obtained from sorghum silage and 75%S +25%CB mixture silage. The present findings revealed that a 50%S+50%CB mixture yielded high nutritional composition and good fermentation parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]