Novel use of the wild species Cephalaria joppensis for silage preparation and its nutritive value for feeding lactating dairy cows

• Published in: Journal of dairy science Vol. 95; no. 8; pp. 4501 - 4509
• Main Authors: Miron, J., Weinberg, Z.G., Chen, Y., Miron, D., Raviv, Y., Bloch, A., Yosef, E., Nikbahat, M., Zenou, A., Daklo, M., Nashef, K., Kushnir, U.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.08.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: anaerobic conditions; Animal productions; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cattle - metabolism; Cephalaria; Cephalaria joppensis; crude protein; dairy cows; Dietary Fiber - metabolism; digestibility; Digestion - physiology; Dipsacaceae - metabolism; Eating - physiology; ensiled bale; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; ingredients; intake and digestibility; Israel; lactating cow; Lactation; milk; Milk - secretion; milk yield; neutral detergent fiber; new methods; nitrates; nutritive value; Random Allocation; sheep; Sheep - metabolism; shelf life; Silage; silage making; Terrestrial animal productions; total mixed rations; Vertebrates; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; voluntary intake; wheat; wild plants; yeasts; lactating cow; ensiled bale; Cephalaria joppensis; intake and digestibility; Farming animal; Lactation; Nutritive value; Dairy cattle; Feeding; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Silage; Preparation; Dairy industry; Artiodactyla; Ungulata; Digestibility
• ISSN: 0022-0302; 1525-3198
• DOI: 10.3168/jds.2011-5086

This study presents a novel method for use of the wild plant species Cephalaria joppensis (CJ) as agricultural forage for ruminants. Domesticated CJ tends to have higher crop mass yield per hectare than a commercial wheat variety (W) but is similar in in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility. This study was composed of 3 experiments. Experiment 1 aimed to measure effects of ensiling CJ versus W in packed polyethylene-wrapped bales. Three types of ensiled bales were produced for each plant: 1) direct-cut CJ versus W packed solely; 2) direct-cut CJ versus W mixed as sole roughage source together with dietary ingredient and packed in bales to create CJ total mixed ration (CJ-TMR) or W-TMR; 3) CJ silage versus W silage mixed as one-third of dietary roughage source together with two-thirds sorghum (S) silage and additional dietary ingredients and packed in bales to create CJ-S-TMR or W-S-TMR. Data showed that packing and wrapping created anaerobic conditions within the 4 types of TMR bales while reducing pH (4.12 to 4.37). Dry matter loss during ensilage was higher for the 2 types of TMR containing W compared with CJ. Ensilage decreased soluble nitrate content as well as yeast and mold contamination, and the 4 types of TMR bales were characterized by a long outdoor shelf life (3 mo) and high stability under aerobic exposure. Experiment 2 aimed to measure the intake and digestibility by sheep of the 4 types of packed TMR after 90 d of ensiling. Data demonstrated higher voluntary intake of the CJ-TMR compared with the other TMR types. The CJ-TMR was characterized by higher digestibility of DM, crude protein, and neutral detergent fiber components compared with the CJ-S-TMR. Experiment 3 examined intake, digestibility, and milk production by 21 pairs of lactating cows individually fed CJ-S-TMR versus W-S-TMR. Similar intake (21.6 to 22.0kg/d) and digestibility of DM and crude protein were observed in cows fed the 2 TMR types (68 to 69% and 66 to 68%, respectively). However, neutral detergent fiber and cellulose digestibility were slightly higher in the cows fed W-S-TMR and this was reflected in a small increase in their milk and energy-corrected milk yield (36.5 and 31.4kg/cow per day, respectively) compared with cows fed CJ-S-TMR (35.5 and 30.4kg/cow per day, respectively). Results demonstrate that direct-cut CJ used as is, or CJ silage can be included and ensiled in TMR bales for feeding productive ruminants as a substitute for wheat silage.