Sweet sorghum (Sorghum saccharatum) silage, maize (Zea mays) silage, and sorghum and maize (1:1) silage were investigated. The silages were analysed for chemical composition, quality and aerobic stability. Dry matter was the lowest (20.88%) in sorghum silage and the highest (37.45%) in maize silage. In sorghum silage, the concentration of crude ash and crude fibre was higher, and that of crude protein, crude fat and N-free extractives lower compared to maize silage. Neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre were the highest in sorghum silage and the lowest in maize silage.The silages were dominated by lactic acid, with trace amounts of butyric acid. Maize silage was higher lactic acid and higher total acids than others. All silages were of very good quality according to Flieg-Zimmer scale. Silage pH ranged from 4.20 to 4.31. Sorghum silage was characterized by higher aerobic stability (81h) compared to the other silages from maize (74h) and sorghum and maize 1:1 (69h).

The aim of the present research has been to determine the effect of replacing a part of commercial compound feed with whole triticale grain on the body weight (BW), body measurements, feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass composition and meat quality of pheasants. The study involved 80 one-d-old common pheasants. From 71 to 112 d of rearing, two diets were administered: a complete commercial diet ad libitum for control pheasants and restricted amounts of a commercial diet (50%) and whole triticale grain (50%) for experimental pheasants. Each treatment consisted of 4 replications, 10 birds each. Introducing whole triticale grain did not cause significant changes in BW, body measurements, feed intake and FCR. The carcasses of 112-d-old pheasants fed whole triticale grain diet showed a significantly lower breast muscle content (%) and a significantly higher content of skin with subcutaneous fat and carcass remainders (p < .05). Breast muscles of pheasants fed commercial compound feed and whole triticale grain exhibited significantly higher hardness, chewiness and gumminess, more palmitic acid and zinc, as well as significantly less sodium, water, linoleic acid, paullinic acid, heptadeconoic acid. There were also significant changes in water and protein, the content of fatty acids in leg muscles, except for myristic acid, pentadecanoic acid, arachidonic acid and nervonic acid. Irrespective of the type of diet, males showed a significantly higher body weight, body measurements and carcass weight, and their breast muscles demonstrated significantly higher WB shear force and the amounts of protein, linoleic acid, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and zinc.

Chenopodium quinoa Willd. is a new plant in the conditions of Poland. At harvest, it has a low content of dry matter, which makes it difficult to ensile. For this reason, a study was undertaken on the effect of microbial and chemical additives on selected quality characteristics of quinoa silage. Traits determining the suitability of the green forage and the influence of silage additives were assessed. A microbial additive and a chemical additive were used. The microbial additive contained bacterial strains of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus acidilactici (concentration 1.25•10 11 CFU•g-1) and was applied in the amount of 1 g•t-1 of fresh material. The chemical additive contained formic acid, propionic acid and ammonium formate, and was added in the amount of 5 l•t-1 of fresh material. The quality of the quinoa silage depending on the additive used was evaluated. The fresh material of Chenopodium quinoa Willd. contained only 6.42% water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) in dry matter (DM) and its fermentability coefficient was 29.2. Lactic acid was predominant in the silage, while the content of acetic acid was average. In the control silage (without additives), small amounts of butyric acid (0.04% DM) were noted, so its quality according to the Flieg-Zimmer scale was good. No butyric acid was found in the silage prepared with additives, and their quality was very good. The control silage contained more N-NH 3 than the silage prepared with additives (P≤0.01). This indicated that the preservatives (silage additives) limited the process of protein degradation in the quinoa silage.

badania składu chemicznego i przydatności kiszonki z sorgo cukrowego ('Sucrosorgo 506') do produkcji biogazu rolniczego. Kiszonka z sorgo wykazywała większą zawartość popiołu surowego, włókna surowego, NDF, ADF i ADL i mniejszą suchej masy, białka surowego i związków bezazotowych wyciągowych niż kiszonka z kukurydzy. Wydajność biogazu wyniosła 631 dm 3 (znormalizowanych) na 1 kg suchej substancji organicznej (SSO) i była mniejsza od wydajności biogazu z kiszonki z kukurydzy (656 dm 3 (znormalizowanych) na 1 kg SSO). Poziom biometanu (CH4) w biogazie z sorgo wyniósł 52% (w porównaniu z 54% w biogazie z kiszonki z kukurydzy).