Effect of maize silage supplementation to grass silage harvested at different maturity stages on digestibility of dry matter, organic matter and digestibility of organic matter in dry matter

The objective of this study was to determine digestibility of dry matter(DM), organic matter (OM) and digestibility of organic matter in dry matter (D-value) of primary cut, different maturity stages grass silage in interaction with maize silage (33 % and 67 %, DM based). Grass silage was harvested in three maturity stages of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) (late vegetative, internode elongation and flowering) that was a dominant grass in the sward. The study consisted of ten feeding treatments with 10 whether Charolais sheep in incomplete changeover design. Dry matter content of I, II and III cutting term was 396, 408 i 463 g kg-1 of the fresh sample respectively, while crude protein (CP) content was 119.6, 98.0 i 93.0 g kg-1 in DM respectively. Dry mater and starch concentration in maize silage was 264 g kg-1 fresh sample and 211 g kg-1 DM respectively. Inclusion of maize silage in the grass silage of the I cutting term (33 % vs. 67 %) did not influence digestibility of DM and OM or D-value. Inclusion of 67 % of maize silage in the II cuting term grass silage based diet increased DM digestibility (P<0.05). Inclusion of maize silage (33 % vs. 67 %) in the grass silage of the III cutting term increased DM digestibility (P<0.05) and D-value (P<0.05), while the inclusion of 67 % of maize silage increased OM digestibility (P<0.05) in comparison with feeding treatment with grass silage III only. It was concluded that a lower quality maize silage increases diet digestibility if it replaces low quality grass silage in the diet.