Determining the quality of sugar beet pulp, lenox and ryegrass silages used in feeding dairy cattle, in comparison with corn silage

This study was carried out to determine the quality of sugar beet pulp, lenox and ryegrass silages used in feeding dairy cattle, in comparison with corn silage. Whole corn was harvested at the time of dough, lenox was harvested at the end of flowering, ryegrass was harvested at the beginning of spike. No additives were added to the corn silage; but it has added 5% molasses to sugar beet pulp, ryegrass and lenox silages have low level of easily degradable sugar.Additionally 5% sainfoin was added to sugar beet pulp silage to increase the dry matter level to 20%. All silages were prepared by compressing them into 150 liter plastic drums. All silages used in the study were classified as "very good" according to Flieg scoring system. Four Holstein dairy cattle which are on average 3 years old, at the 3rd month of lactation period and milk yield was close to each other were used in the feeding experiment. In this study, a 4x4 latin square trial design was applied and each period of the experiment consisted of 21 days, 14 days for exercise and 7 days for sample collection. The amount of feed to be consumed by the animals according to periods is calculated based on NRC standards as considering their yield levels. In the experiment, milk yield was found to be similar in silage groups, but milk fat level was higher in corn silage consuming group than other groups. The rumen fluid and blood serum values of the animals were within the range of reference values. In the digestion experiment, 4 male Norduz yearling lambs were used. The experiment was carried out according to the 4x4 latin square trial design. Each period of the experiment consisted of a total of 21 days, 14 days for exercise and 7 days for sample collection. The amount of feed to be consumed by the animals was determined to contain 2% DM of the live weight of the animals. The digestibility of raw nutrients was found to be lower in ryegrass silage than other silages and this effect was also reflected on the NEL level of silage. As a result, in this study, it was determined that these silages were competitive with corn silage in the feeding of dairy cattle as long as 5% molasses were added to wet beet pulp, lenox and ryegrass silages, but it is found that the digestibility and energy content of ryegrass silage was lower than other silages.