The Effects of Irrigation, Genotype and Additives on Tef Silage Making

Abstract

Tef is known as a multi-harvest crop with high production capacity and outstanding fodder quality. Hence, our overall goal is to develop tef as a new multi-harvest summer crop that can maintain high-quality feed and contribute to both field crops and the livestock industry in Israel. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the ability to preserve tef as silage. Four tef genotypes grown under well-watered (100%) and water-limited (75%) irrigation regimes were harvested at grain filling stage and ensiled with either no additives (control, CTL), or with heterofermentative inoculum (HI), molasses (MOL), and both MOL + HI. Our results showed for the first time that tef could be ensiled, although water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) were lower than those in corn, “the perfect ensiling crop”. Most of the tef silage qualitative parameters were better at water-limited irrigation. Additives HI or MOL or MOL + HI also improved silage parameters, e.g., lowered pH and ammonia nitrogen content, but increased in vitro dry matter digestibility, lactic acid and crude protein content, and lactic acid bacteria counts of tef silage. The current results imply increasing the diversity of local ruminant fodder crops, ensuring high-quality feed supply during the summer.

The effect of teff (Eragrostis tef) hay inclusion on feed intake, digestibility, and milk production in dairy cows

“…The differences between our findings and the earlier findings of Vinyard et al (2018) and Ream et al (2020) could be attributed to the level of feed intake (beef heifers and steers vs. dairy cows). In addition, the teff variety might affect its composition and nutritional value (Wagali et al, 2023). Nonetheless, the teff hay used in the earlier studies by Vinyard et al (2018) and Ream et al (2020) was harvested at boot, early heading, or late heading, whereas our teff hay was harvested at early heading.…”

“…Several studies have investigated the nutritional value of teff hay and silages. For example, CP concentration was shown to range from 7.5%-18.7%, whereas NDF concentration ranged from 58.6%-70.8% in teff hay (Vinyard et al, 2018;Ream et al, 2020;Wagali et al, 2023). The IVDMD of teff silage and in vivo DMD of teff hay ranged from 58.0% to 67.0% (Ream et al, 2020;Wagali et al, 2023).…”

“…Teff silage has been proven to have high-quality in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) (57.0% to 66.1%) (Wagali et al, 2023) and teff straw is also considered to have high digestibility values compared with barley and wheat straw (Assefa et al, 2013). Several studies have investigated the nutritional value of teff hay and silages.…”

“…For example, CP concentration was shown to range from 7.5%-18.7%, whereas NDF concentration ranged from 58.6%-70.8% in teff hay (Vinyard et al, 2018;Ream et al, 2020;Wagali et al, 2023). The IVDMD of teff silage and in vivo DMD of teff hay ranged from 58.0% to 67.0% (Ream et al, 2020;Wagali et al, 2023). The in vitro NDF digestibility of teff silage was up to 55.0% (Wagali et al, 2023), and the in vivo NDF digestibility of teff hay in beef cattle was up to 69.0% (Ream et al, 2020).…”

“…The IVDMD of teff silage and in vivo DMD of teff hay ranged from 58.0% to 67.0% (Ream et al, 2020;Wagali et al, 2023). The in vitro NDF digestibility of teff silage was up to 55.0% (Wagali et al, 2023), and the in vivo NDF digestibility of teff hay in beef cattle was up to 69.0% (Ream et al, 2020). However, the nutritional composition of teff, similar to that of other forages, may vary greatly depending on its variety, growth conditions, and maturity stage at harvest, as elaborated by Buxton (1996) and Wagali et al (2023).…”