Feeding of corn stover silage fed to crossbred carabao

Three studies were conducted to evaluate the feeding value of corn stover silage (CSS) fed to growing crossbred carabaos. Study 1 was divided into 2 parts. Trial 1 investigated the effect of microbial inoculant (Lactobacillus plantarum) on corn stover (CS) harvested 75 days after planting (DAP). Addition of L. plantarum slightly increased (P0.05) dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) contents of CSS. Significant increase (P0.05) in DM, NDF and ADF content as well as a significant decrease (P0.05) in in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) were observed when inoculant was added to CS + Rice Bran + molasses-water. The effect of L. plantarum and ensiling period on corn stover harvested 105 DAP was determined in a 2 x 3 factorial in split plot design in Trial 2. Results showed a slight increase in DM, CP and ADF values with microbial inoculant, although a decrease in IVDMD and pH (P0.05) was observed. On the other hand, organic matter, pH and IVDMD decreased significantly (P0.05) with an increase in ensiling period of corn stover silage. In study 2, two trials were conducted to determine in vitro digestibility of CSS to crossbred carabaos. In trial 1, no significant difference was observed between CSS + additive (CSS + A) and CSS in terms of ensiling characteristics and nutrient intake of corn stover harvested 75 DAP. Digestion coefficient of NFE was significantly (P0.05) reduced by microbial inoculant. However, coefficient of digestibility of DM, OM, CP, EE, NDF, ADF and total digestible nutrient were not affected by L. plantarum. In trial 2, digestibility values were higher when mature corn stover (105 DAP) silage was fed ad libitum compared with restricted feeding. The level of restriction (80 percent of ad libitum feeding) was not enough to increase digestibility. A 50-day feeding trial was conducted in Study 3 to determine the feeding value of corn silage and CSS when fed along with urea-molasses-mineral block (UMMB) to growing crossbred carabaos. Corn silage had higher CP, lower NDF and ADF contents and was preserved better than CSS as indicated by lower pH. The silage dry matter intake (DMI) of crossbred carabaos fed corn silage was higher (P0.05) than those fed CSS. The low corn stover silage DMI was compensated by a significantly higher (P0.05) UMMB intake. The intake of NDF and ADF did not differ (P0.05) between treatments although slightly higher nutrient digestibility and intake of digestible nutrient were observed in carabaos fed corn silage than those fed CSS. Results of these studies showed that microbial inoculant had little effect on silage fermentation, particularly the feeding value of corn stover silage. Furthermore, corn silage did not give added advantage over that of corn stover silage in terms of growth performance of crossbred carabaos