Effects of napier grass (<I>Pennisetum purpureum</I> Schumach) added with beet pulp silage on beef cattle performance

概要

論文の詳細を見る
The experiment was conducted to evaluate the fermentative quality of napier grass silage added with 10% beet pulp as an additive and investigated the effect of feeding of this silage on beef cattle (16-months aged Japanese Black steers) performance during two months period, comparing with guinea grass hay. The ratios of forage (silage or hay) to concentrate in the diets in terms of TDN were 14-19% as feed budgets in the 2 feeding systems. The ensiled napier grass silage indicated a high fermentation quality of pH 3.9, 74% lactic acid in the total acids and TDN 62%, comparing with hay of TDN 56%. Forages in each feeding system were con-sumed about the same amounts of dry matter, while concentrates were consumed 0.3kg less in the system based on silage than on hay. Live weight gain of 1.26kg/day was achieved in the system based on silage, comparing with 1.11 kg/day in the system based on hay, although the difference was not significant. It is evaluated that napier grass silage added beetpulp shows high fermentative quality and can be utilized as a basal feed for beef cattle.
日本暖地畜産学会の論文