Insilamento di rotoballe di erba medica a diversi gradi di appassimento. Digeribilità ed ingestione volontaria nelle manzette

Round bales of second cutting lucerne, harvested at dry matter contents of 23% (I), 33% (II) and 40% (III), were sealed in polyethylene bags. The resultant silages showed good fermentation but (I) and (II) silages had high soluble nitrogen content. All silages proved to be stable over 7 day-aerobic exposure period. Voluntary dry matter intake was not significantly different (92.1, 89.5 and 90.1 g/kg body wt.0.75 for (I), (II) and (III) silages respectively). The in vivo digestibility coefficients (%) for (III) silage were: protein (Nx6.25) 70.8, ether extract 47.8, crude fiber 51.3, N-free extract 59.6, NDF 47.1, ADF 43.4 and organic matter 58.4. The organic matter digestibility of all silages was determined by Tilley and Terry method. The resultant digestibility coefficient of (III) silage did not differ significantly from the in vivo value (59.3% vs 58.4%) and both were significantly higher than in vitro coefficients of (I) and (II) silages (54.6% and 56.0% respectively).