Effect of Various Additives and Harvesting Stages on Rumen Degradation of Sunflower Silages

Abstract

To study effective degradability (nylon bag technique) of sunflower silage, as influenced by harvesting stage (blooming, milk or dough) or molasses (m) / urea (u) mixture, seven different silage samples for each harvest stage [sunflower (SF) and 6 mixtures (2%mSF, 4%mSF, 2%m+0.5%uSF, 2%m+1%uSF, 4%m+0.5%uSF, 4%m+1%uSF)] were incubated for 70 days in 1 litter jars. The DM and CP effective degradation of SF silage was found to be similar at blooming and milking stage and higher than that of dough stage (P < 0.05). The effective degradation of ADF and NDF of SF silage at milking and dough stages was lower than that of blooming stage. The positive effects of molasses and molasses+urea additives on effective degradability were observed. It was concluded that decreased degradability of nutrient matters because of its advanced vegetational stage could be partly compensated by using different amount of molasses and molasses+urea additives.