Feeding Systems with Legumes to Intensify Dairy Farms - cgiar

The silos were left to ferment for 60 days and, upon opening, pH and
organoleptic characteristics (odor and color) were assessed. Part of each
sample was oven-dried at 60 °C and a subsample was frozen to later analyze
ammonium nitrogen. Laboratory tests were conducted to determine dry
matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ammonium nitrogen
(Nam), and rumen degradability of DM (D).
A scale, from 1 to 3, was used for the organoleptic evaluation.
Organoleptic
Scores and properties of silage
characteristics 1 = Poor 2 = Intermediate 3 = Good
Odor Butyric (rancid) Acetic
Lactic
Degraded amino acids
or N sub-products
(spoiled)
Color Dark brown
Black
Moldy
Results and Discussion
33
Alcoholic
Light brown
Yellowish
Slightly acetic or
alcoholic with
lactic essence
Original green
Light green
All silages presented a strong lactic odor, except for those with high
CSC content (75%), which presented an alcoholic odor with a lactic essence
(Table 1). The silage with 25% PP and high levels of CSC presented a light
brown color.
The pH correlated highly with lactic and acetic acid contents. A pH
lower than 4 is considered a good indicator of superior fermentation in moist
substrata such as the ones used in this project and, accordingly, of a goodquality
end product. When carbohydrate levels are very high or very low,
fermentation is altered, yielding final products and pH values that fall
outside the optimal range. In the case of 75% CSC, the high levels of soluble
carbohydrates (SC) induced fermentation tending more toward an alcoholic
base, with a pH of almost 5. In the case of 25% PP, because of the high
moisture content of this substratum, its SC contribution (dry basis) was
small, causing lactic acid production to be poor. Therefore pH was almost
4.5.