Effects of Dietary Substitution of Alfalfa Silage with Virginia Fanpetals Silage in Lactating Polish Holstein Friesian Dairy Cows

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of partial or complete substitution of alfalfa silage with Virginia fanpetals silage in rations based on maize silage on feed intake, digestibility, ruminal fermentation and milk yield and physicochemical characteristics. Nine Polish Holstein Friesian cows in the second half of lactation were fed three experimental diets in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design as follows: maize silage + alfalfa silage, maize silage + alfalfa silage and Virginia fanpetals silage in a 50:50 ratio, maize silage + Virginia fanpetals silage. Complete substitution caused an increase in dry matter intake (DMI), total volatile fatty acids (VFA), acetic acid to propionic acid (A/P) ratio, N-NH3 in the rumen contents and milk urea and a decrease in the feed conversion ratio. The partial and complete substitution changed the profile of milk fatty acids, resulting in a slight increase in saturated fatty acids (SFA) and a decrease in unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) as well as in all functional fatty acids except vaccenic acid. The most promising production effects were achieved through partial substitution of alfalfa silage with the Virginia fanpetals silage.

Ruminal degradability of Virginia fanpetals (<i>Sida hermaphrodita</i>) herbage and silage depending on the harvest time

“…Virginia fanpetals silage was characterized by a lower DM content than alfalfa silage due to the ensilage of unwilted green forage. This technology was adopted after preliminary unsuccessful attempts to wilting the Virginia herbage, reported in our previous paper (Purwin et al, 2020). In the first swath of Virginia silage CP content was similar to that observed in alfalfa silage, while the content of NDF, ADF and ADL was much lower.…”

“…Unlike alfalfa, Virginia fanpetals can be successfully grown in soils poor in organic matter (OM) and nutrients (Manning et al, 2015). We have previously shown that complete replacing alfalfa silage in rations for dairy cows with Virginia fanpetals silage harvested in the early vegetation stage does not reduce milk yield (Purwin et al, 2020). Therefore it was justified to investigate the ruminal degradability of Virginia fanpetals herbage and silage depending on the harvest time and to assess their nutritive values.…”

The Quality, Intake, and Digestibility of Virginia Fanpetals (Sida hermaphrodita L. Rusby) Silage Produced under Different Technologies and Its Effect on the Performance of Young Cattle

“…Silage samples were also analyzed to determine pH—with a pH-meter (HI 8314, Hanna Instruments, Woonsocket, RI, USA), the content of lactic acid and ethanol by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC SHIMADZU), with a MetaCarb 67H P/N 5244 column (Varian, Palo Alto, CA, USA) and 0.0025 M sulfuric acid as the mobile phase, according to the detailed protocol of manufacturer. The concentrations of VFAs were determined using a Varian 450 gas chromatograph (Varian Instruments, Palo Alto, CA, USA) coupled with a flame ionization detector (FID) and a 25-m-long CP-FFAP capillary column (internal diameter-0.53 mm, the thickness of the coating film-1.0 μm), as described by Purwin et al [ 11 ]. The content of NH 3 -N was determined by direct distillation using the 2100 Kjeltec Distillation unit (Foss Analytical A/S, Hilleröd, Denmark) after increasing the pH of the samples by adding MgO.…”

“…Our earlier study [ 10 ] demonstrated that Virginia fanpetals herbage intended for ensiling, harvested with a forage harvester, can be fed to beef cattle as a component of diets containing maize silage and grass silage, or as the sole forage supplemented with ground cereal grain. It was also found that Virginia fanpetals silage can be a substitute for alfalfa silage in diets for medium-yielding cows, without significantly compromising their performance [ 11 ].…”