Digestibility and palatability of Virginia fanpetals (Sida hermaphrodita R.) silage in sheep

Cezary Purwin; Marta Borsuk-Stanulewicz; Zenon Nogalski; Maja Baranowska; Aleksandra Zygmuntowicz; Jacek P Michalski

doi:10.5194/aab-65-89-2022

Digestibility and palatability of Virginia fanpetals (Sida hermaphrodita R.) silage in sheep

Arch Anim Breed. 2022 Feb 22;65(1):89-96. doi: 10.5194/aab-65-89-2022. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Cezary Purwin¹, Marta Borsuk-Stanulewicz^{1

2}, Zenon Nogalski³, Maja Baranowska¹, Aleksandra Zygmuntowicz⁴, Jacek P Michalski⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, 10-719, Poland.
² previously published under the name Marta Borsuk.
³ Department of Cattle Breeding and Milk Evaluation, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, 10-719, Poland.
⁴ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, 10-719, Poland.
⁵ Kielanowski Institute of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jabłonna, 05-110, Poland.

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to evaluate Virginia fanpetals silage based on an apparent digestibility and palatability test performed on six adult rams. Alfalfa silage was used as standard forage for comparison. Virginia fanpetals samples were harvested in the bud-formation stage and alfalfa samples were harvested in the late bud stage. Virginia fanpetals silage had a crude protein (CP) content of 176 g kg $^{- 1}$ dry matter (DM), a neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content of 378 g kg $^{- 1}$ DM, and a lignin content of 42.8 g kg $^{- 1}$ DM. Virginia fanpetals silage had higher acidity (pH of 4.30) and was characterized by intense lactic acid fermentation compared with alfalfa silage (80 % vs. 51 % of the total acids). The digestibility coefficient of Virginia fanpetals silage was as follows: for DM it was 0.707, for organic matter (OM) it was 0.724, for CP it was 0.861, and for NDF it was 0.609. In comparison with alfalfa silage, Virginia fanpetals silage was characterized by higher apparent digestibility of nutrients, but a significant difference was noted only for CP. The voluntary intake of Virginia fanpetals silage was significantly higher than that of alfalfa silage (1427.4 vs. 954 g DM). The greatest differences in voluntary intake were observed 0-2 and 8-12 h after feeding. Virginia fanpetals silage had a chemical composition similar to that of alfalfa, but it was characterized by a more desirable fermentation pattern and higher digestibility, and it was more willingly consumed by rams. The present findings indicate that Virginia fanpetals silage can be fed to sheep.