Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T15:17:19.024Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of physical form and stage of maturity at harvest of whole-crop barley silage on intake, chewing activity, diet selection and faecal particle size of dairy steers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2009

B.-O. Rustas ,
P. Nørgaard ,
A. R. Jalali  and
E. Nadeau
B.-O. Rustas*
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 234, SE-532 23 Skara, Sweden
P. Nørgaard
Affiliation:
Department of Basic Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 3, 1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
A. R. Jalali
Affiliation:
Department of Basic Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 3, 1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
E. Nadeau
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 234, SE-532 23 Skara, Sweden
Get access

Abstract

This study examined the effects of physical form and stage of maturity at harvest of whole-crop barley silage (WCBS) on feed intake, eating and rumination activity, diet selection and faecal particle size in dairy steers. Whole-crop barley was harvested and ensiled in round bales. Eight dairy steers (live weight (LW): 350 ± 10 kg) in a duplicated 4 × 4 Latin square design were fed WCBS harvested at heading or dough stage of maturity in long form or chopped in a 2 × 2 factorial treatment arrangement. The WCBS was supplemented with soybean meal. Daily dry matter (DM) intake increased by 7% (P < 0.05) due to chopping of dough-stage silage but was unaffected by chopping of heading-stage silage. The steers fed chopped, but not those fed long dough-stage silage, selected for starch in the WCBS (P < 0.001). The neutral detergent fibre (NDF) intake was 5% higher (P < 0.01) for heading than for dough-stage silage and was associated with lower concentration of indigestible NDF (96 v. 170 g/kg DM). Rate of intake of DM and NDF was 37% higher (P < 0.001), daily eating time was 24% shorter (P < 0.001) and daily chewing time was 8% shorter (P < 0.05) for chopped silage compared with long silage but there was no effect of maturity. Daily rumination time was not affected by treatments, whereas rumination and chewing times per kg NDF intake were 15% and 13% higher (P < 0.05), respectively, for dough-stage than for heading-stage silage. The proportion of faecal particles retained on a 1 mm screen was 30% higher (P < 0.001) due to chopping and 45% higher (P < 0.001) due to delayed harvest. Chopping the dough-stage silage reduced the proportion of grain in faeces from 97 to 43 g/kg DM (P < 0.05) indicating higher starch digestibility. In conclusion, chopping increased DM intake of WCBS when harvested at dough stage but not at heading stage of maturity.

Keywords

whole-crop barley silagechoppingmaturitychewingdiet selection
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 67 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersson, R, Hedlund, B 1983. HPLC analysis of organic acids in lactic acid fermented vegetables. Zeitschrift für Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und Forschung 176, 440–443.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolsen, KK, Berger, LL, Conway, KL, Riley, JG 1976. Wheat, barley and corn silages for growing steers and lambs. Journal of Animal Science 42, 185–191.Google Scholar
Broderick, GA, Kang, JH 1980. Automated simultaneous determination of ammonia and total amino-acids in ruminal fluid and in vitro media. Journal of Dairy Science 63, 64–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chai, WH, Udén, P 1998. An alternative oven method combined with different detergent strengths in the analysis of neutral detergent fibre. Animal Feed Science and Technology 74, 281–288.Google Scholar
Cherney, JH, Marten, GC, Goodrich, RD 1983. Rate and extent of cell-wall digestion of total forage and morphological components of oats and barley. Crop Science 23, 213–216.Google Scholar
Deswysen, A, Vanbelle, M 1978. How chopping improves grass silage intake by sheep and heifers. Constraints to grass growth and grassland output. Proceedings of the 7th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation 6, 19–26.Google Scholar
Dulphy, JP, VanOs, M 1996. Control of voluntary intake of precision-chopped silages by ruminants: a review. Reproduction Nutrition Development 36, 113–135.Google Scholar
Forbes, JM, Provenza, FD 2000. Integration of learning and metabolic signals into a theory of dietary choice and food intake. In Ruminant physiology: digestion, metabolism, growth and reproduction (ed. PB Cronjé), pp. 3–19. Cabi, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Huhtanen, P, Rinne, M, Nousiainen, J 2007. Evaluation of the factors affecting silage intake of dairy cows: a revision of the relative silage dry-matter intake index. Animal 1, 758–770.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingvartsen, KL 1994. Prediction of voluntary feed intake in growing cattle. Revision and further development of the 86/87-system. Beretning fra Statens Husdyrbrugsforsøg 724, 1–44Google Scholar
Jalali, A, Nørgaard, P, Nadeau, E, Arnesson, A, Weisbjerg, MR 2008. Faecal particle-size distribution from ewes fed grass silages harvested at different stages of maturity. Grassland Science in Europe 13, 822–824.Google Scholar
Jaster, EH, Murphy, MR 1983. Effects of varying particle-size of forage on digestion and chewing behavior of dairy heifers. Journal of Dairy Science 66, 802–810.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jung, HG, Baker, SK 2002. Relationship of forage fiber content and mechanical strength to particle size reduction during ingestive mastication by steers. Journal of Dairy Science 85 (suppl. 1), 361.Google Scholar
Kennedy, PM 2005. Particle dynamics. In Quantitative aspects of ruminant digestion and metabolism (ed. J Dijkstra, JM Forbes and J France), pp. 123–156. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khorasani, GR, Jedel, PE, Helm, JH, Kennelly, JJ 1997. Influence of stage of maturity on yield components and chemical composition of cereal grain silages. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 77, 259–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laca, EA, Shipley, LA, Reid, ED 2001. Structural anti-quality characteristics of range and pasture plants. Journal of Range Management 54, 413–419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsson, K, Bengtsson, S 1983. Bestämning av lätt tillgängliga kolhydrater i växt material (determination of nonstructural carbohydrates in plant material). Method description no. 22. National Laboratory of Agricultural Chemistry, Uppsala, Sweden.Google Scholar
Lindgren, E 1979. The nutritional value of roughages estimated in vivo and by laboratory methods. Rapport, Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Avdelningen for husdjurens Näringsfysiologi 45, 61 pp.Google Scholar
McLeod, MN, Smith, BR 1989. Eating and ruminating behaviour in cattle given forages differing in fibre content. Animal Production 48, 503–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mertens, DR 1994. Regulation of forage intake. In Forage quality, evaluation and utilization (ed. GC Fahey Jr), pp. 450–493. Soil Science Society of America, Inc., American Society of Agronomy, Inc., Crop Science Society of America, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA.Google Scholar
NorFor 2007. NorFor in Sacco Standard. Retrieved September 10, 2007, from http://www.norfor.info/Files/pdf-dokumenter/pdf_lab/Analyses/NorFor_in_sacco_standard_070910.pdf.Google Scholar
Nørgaard, P, Hilden, K 2004. A new method for recording mastication during eating and ruminating in sheep. Journal of Animal and Feed Sciences 13, 171–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nørgaard, P, Kornfelt, LF 2006. Particle size distribution in rumen contents and faeces from cows fed grass silages in different physical form or barley straw supplemented with grass pellets. Journal of Animal Science 84, 262.Google Scholar
Nørgaard, P, Husted, S, Ranvig, H 2004. Effect of supplementation with whole wheat or whole oat grains on the dimensions of faeces particles from lambs. Journal of Animal and Feed Sciences 13, 175–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perez-Barberia, FJ, Gordon, IJ 1998. Factors affecting food comminution during chewing in ruminants: a review. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 63, 233–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, JB, Van Soest, PJ 1981. The detergent system of analysis and its application to human foods. In The analysis of dietary fiber in food (ed. WPT James and O Theander), pp. 123–158. Marcel Decker, New York and Basel. ISBN no. 0-8247-1192-0.Google Scholar
Rustas, B-O, Nadeau, E, Johnsson, S 2008. Performance of dairy steers fed whole-crop barley silages harvested at different stages of maturity. Grassland Science in Europe 13, 852–854.Google Scholar
Schleisner, C, Norgaard, P, Hansen, HH 1999. Discriminant analysis of patterns of jaw movement during rumination and eating in a cow. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, A 49, 251–259.Google Scholar
Teller, E, Vanbelle, M, Kamatali, P 1993. Chewing behavior and voluntary grass-silage intake by cattle. Livestock Production Science 33, 215–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waldo, DR, Smith, LW, Cox, EL, Weinland, BT, Lucas, HL 1971. Logarithmic normal distribution for description of sieved forage materials. Journal of Dairy Science 54, 1465–1469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallsten, J, Nadeau, E, Bertilsson, J, Martinsson, J 2009. Voluntary intake and diet selection by dairy heifers fed ensiled whole-crop barley and oats harvested at different stages of maturity. Livestock Science 122, 94–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, JG 1982. Rumination, particle-size and passage from the rumen. Journal of Animal Science 54, 885–894.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zadoks, JC, Chang, TT, Konzak, CF 1974. Decimal code for growth stages of cereals. Weed Research 14, 415–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar