Elephant grass clones for silage production

Abstract

Ensiling warm-season grasses often requires wilting due to their high moisture content, and the presence of low-soluble sugars in these grasses usually demands the use of additives during the ensiling process. This study evaluated the bromatological composition of the fodder and silage from five Pennisetum sp. clones (IPA HV 241, IPA/UFRPE Taiwan A-146 2.114, IPA/UFRPE Taiwan A-146 2.37, Elephant B, and Mott). The contents of 20 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) silos, which were opened after 90 days of storage, were used for the bromatological analysis and the evaluation of the pH, nitrogen, ammonia, buffer capacity, soluble carbohydrates, and fermentation coefficients. The effluent losses, gases and dry matter recovery were also calculated. Although differences were observed among the clones (p < 0.05) for the concentrations of dry matter, insoluble nitrogen in acid detergents, insoluble nitrogen in neutral detergents, soluble carbohydrates, fermentation coefficients, and in vitro digestibility in the forage before ensiling, no differences were observed for most of these variables after ensiling. All of the clones were efficient in the fermentation process. The IPA/UFRPE TAIWAN A-146 2.37 clone, however, presented a higher dry matter concentration and the best fermentation coefficient, resulting in a better silage quality, compared to the other clones.

Round-Bale Silage Harvesting and Processing Effects on Overwintering Ability, Dry Matter Yield, Fermentation Quality, and Palatability of Dwarf Napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach)

“…Good fermentation quality of five Napiergrass clones including dwarf types was reported to lead to a silage with a pH above 4.2, which was related to the low DM concentration of the plants, below 20% [14]. Since a wilting treatment should increase the DM percentage of Napiergrass by at least 30% DM in order to get a satisfactory fermentation quality of the silage [15], the wilting treatment for the first summer cut in Experiment 2 was successful because it decreased the moisture to 55.4%, leading to an improved silage fermentation quality.…”

Grassland Establishment of Dwarf Napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) by Planting of Cuttings in the Winter Season

“…According to previous research, dwarf Napiergrass can be utilized not only under a cut-and-carry system [5], but also in silage processing [1,2,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and under grazing management [5,[15][16][17][18] because of its herbage quality, which is not so low as ordinary tropical grasses such as guineagrass (Panicum maximum) and sudangrass (Sorghum sudanense) [1,2,19]. Moreover, the nutritive value of dwarf Napiergrass was the highest among genotypes of Napiergrass [20][21][22][23][24].…”

Preemergence herbicides on weed control in elephant grass pasture

“…It was introduced as forage in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world because of its ability to produce high biomass yield under a wide range of climatic and edaphic conditions (Aroeira et al, 2001) Elephantgrass is highly efficient in fixing atmospheric CO 2 and able to accumulate more than 60 Mg ha -1 of dry matter per year (Morais et al, 2009). Although elephant grass is mainly used as an animal feed (Santos et al, 2013;Rusdy, 2016), the high biomass production, especially in tropical countries, makes it a potential feedstock for bioenergy production (Flores et al, 2012;Ohimain;Kendabie;Nwachukwu, 2014;Sales et al, 2015). As a result, research has been directed to using elephant grass biomass for biofuel production such as charcoal (Strezov;Evans;Hayman, 2008), alcohol (Soares et al, 2011), methane, or even for direct burning (Samson et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2010).…”