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The object of this study was to investigate the effect of wilting, chopping and formic acid treatment on berseem silage quality besides determination of digestibility, rumen fermentation and blood metabolites of rams fed tested rations. Berseem forage (at 3 rd cut) was manually chopped at 2-3 cm of length and wilted for 0, 24 or 48 hr and thereafter ensiled with or without formic acid (0.5%) treatment in plastic barrels. At the same time, another quantity of un-chopped berseem forage was wilted for 24 hr and ensiled with or without formic acid treatment. Digestibility trials were conducted to evaluate the utilization of berseem silages using mature Ossimi rams. The results showed that DM of berseem silage increased by wilting to around 20% and 30% for 24 hr and 48 hr, respectively. The wilted silage for 24 hr and treated with formic acid (S4) had the lowest value of pH (being 3.87), the highest level of lactic acid (3.15%) the lowest level of acetic (1.57%) and butyric acids (0.0%) with Flieg's score 90. The lowest level of lactate and Flieg's score of quality, whilst the highest pH value was obtained in un-chopped berseem silage either treated or untreated with formic acid. Likewise, the highest count of lactobacilli, the lowest mold and clostridia were found in S4, which were positive correlated with fermentation parameters. Digestibility of DM, OM, CP, EE and CF was higher (P<0.01) in un-wilted than wilted silages, as well as, nutritive values had a similar trend. The intake of TDN, DCP and ME was higher (P<0.05) in wilted silage rations than un-wilted. Formic acid treatment improved (P<0.05) digestibility of most nutrients, whilst nutritive values did not differ significantly. The nutrients digestibility of un-chopped silage was lower than chopped silage except for CF and its fractions. The quality index (QI) value was (P<0.05) improved by wilting of silage. The lowest value of QI was found in un-chopped and unwilted silages. Rumen liquor parameters were not significantly affected by wilting or formic acid treatment, except for NH3-N and TVFA's which were higher in wilted than un-wilted silage. The highest (P<0.01) value of NH3-N and TVFA's was showed in wilted for 24 hr and treated silage. The pH, eNDF and NH3-N values were higher in un-chopped than chopped silage ration. Blood hemoglobin and hematocrite values, as well as plasma total protein and glucose (P<0.01) increased in wilted silage groups than un-wilted. Whereas, formic acid did not affect blood parameters. It could be concluded that, the lowest quality and digestibility was obtained with un-chopped silage either with or without formic acid treatment. Chopping and wilting berseem forage for 24 hr (about 20% DM) as pre-ensiled treatments with formic acid sprinkle produced the best quality silage and higher digestibility without any side effect on health of rams during the experimental period, which could be resulted in improvement growth performance of the animal.

This research was carried out at a private farm located at Qaha, Qalyubia Governorate, Egypt during the two successive summer seasons of 2018 and 2019 to estimate the stability parameters of ten dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes for yield, insect infestation and some economic traits under different planting densities as well as to assess the annual variation of some insect pests through different growing densities and seasons in relation to certain climatic factors, synchronization of plant age with insect infestation percentage on plant due to insect activity. There were significant genotype × densities interactions for the studied bean’s traits, i.e., number of days to flowering, pod length, 100-seeds weight, number of pods/plant, yield/feddan and insect infestation. Combined analysis of variance revealed significant differences among genotypes for all studied traits. Pooled deviation mean squares for number of days to flowering, yield/fed. and insect infestation were not significant suggesting the consistency of the genotypes yielding ability under environmental conditions tested. The high yielding genotypes G6, G1 and G10 produced high yielding performance based on wide adaptation and stability of performance over all environments. Genotypes G3, G5, G7 and G10 were insensitive to environmental changes and could be recommended for cultivation under all conditions. Genotype G8 also had minimum aphid infestation over range of environments showed below regression coefficients for yield/fed. and insect infestation and low deviation from regression, indicated specific adaptability of this genotype to unfavorable environments. Genetic variation (σ2g) was large in magnitude compared to error one (σ2e) in all studied traits of all cases except pod length in all densities of 2nd season (Env. 5-8) and number of pods under 10 cm/2 rows of Env.8, reflecting the genetic differences among genotypes for all studied traits except of those two cases. The population of both leaf miners (Melanogromyza phaseoli) and aphid (Aphis craccivora Koch) was observed from the third week of March (5th week after planting date) and continued till to 3rd week of May (14th week after planting) and reached to a peak level 55.2 and 85.9% for aphid and leaf miners during 9th and 11th weeks after planting date, respectively, i.e. 2nd and 4th week of April. Genotype G8 interacted with planting space of (5 cm ×2 rows) were explained the lowest Melanagromyza phaseoli (Tryon) and Aphis craccivora Koch, infestations (18.8% and 12.6%, respectively) followed by G1 and G5 with the same planting space for leaf miners (29.6%) and aphid (15.3%) infestations, respectively.