Designing agricultural grasses to help mitigate proteolysis during ensiling to optimize protein feed provisions for livestock

Nuwan P. K. Muhandiram, Michael W. Humphreys, Rhun Fychan, John W. Davies, Ruth Sanderson, Christina L. Marley*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
27 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The efficient preservation of protein in silage for livestock feed is dependent on the rate and extent of proteolysis. Previous research on fresh forage indicated enhanced protein stability in certain (ryegrass fescue hybrids) cultivars compared to ryegrass. This is the first report of an experiment to test the hypothesis that a cultivar had reduced proteolysis compared to perennial ryegrass ( ) during the ensiling process. Forages were harvested in May (Cut 2) and August (Cut 4), wilted for 24 h and ensiled in laboratory-scale silos. Silage was destructively sampled at 0 h, 9 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h, 14 days and 90 days post-ensiling, and dry matter (DM), pH and chemical composition were determined. At Cut 2, there was no difference in crude protein between treatments but ryegrass had higher soluble nitrogen (SN) (  
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere475
Number of pages12
JournalFood and Energy Security
Volume12
Issue number4
Early online date13 Jun 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jul 2023

Keywords

  • Festulolium
  • protein
  • ryegrass
  • forage conservation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Designing agricultural grasses to help mitigate proteolysis during ensiling to optimize protein feed provisions for livestock'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this