Designing agricultural grasses to help mitigate proteolysis during ensiling to optimize protein feed provisions for livestock

AbstractThe efficient preservation of protein in silage for livestock feed is dependent on the rate and extent of proteolysis. Previous research on fresh forage indicated enhanced protein stability in certainFestulolium (ryegrass× fescue hybrids) cultivars compared to ryegrass. This is the first report of an experiment to test the hypothesis that aLolium perenne × Festuca arundinacea var glaucescens cultivar had reduced proteolysis compared to perennial ryegrass (L. perenne) during the ensiling process. Forages were harvested in May (Cut 2) and August (Cut 4), wilted for 24  h and ensiled in laboratory-scale silos. Silage was destructively sampled at 0 h, 9 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 14 days and 90 days post-ensiling, and dry matter (DM), pH and chemical composition were determined. At Cut 2, there was no difference in crude protein between treatments but rye grass had higher soluble nitrogen (SN) (P <  0.001) and grass × time interactions (p = 0.03) indicated higher rates of proteolysis. By Cut 4,Festulolium had (5.5% units) higher CP than ryegrass (p <  0.001) but SN did not differ. Ammonia-N did not differ between silages in either cut. DM differences (11.8% units) between treatments in Cut 4 (v.2.2% in Cut 2) may have masked effects on proteolysis, highlighting the importance of management on silage quality. This was despite higher WSC in ryeg rass in both cuts (p  < 0.001), with grass × time interactions (Cut 2;p = 0.03) showing...
Source: Food and Energy Security - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research