Ensilaging of rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and sawdust with soft cheese whey

In the ensilaging of rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and sawdust separately, whey was added to each substrate at the rate of 2 parts whey and 1 part substrate by weight. The control treatments were (a) the addition of molasses which was diluted by adding 20% water and applied at the rate of 2 parts to 1 part of the substrate, and (b) water was added to the substrate at the rate of 2:1 of the substrate. The ensilage substrate was placed in an air-tight plastic bag and sealed. The bagged silages were kept at ambient room temperature for a minimum of four weeks. On the average, the increase in weight over the initial weights of the substrate was about three times. The loss in weight after four weeks of ensilaging was from 1.8 to 8.2%. The ash content of rice straw was 5.9 of sawdust, 1:2 and of bagasse, 1.1%. The highest crude fiber content was shown in the sawdust silages with 20.1 in molasses, 18 in water and 15.1% in whey. The bagasse silages and the rice straw silages averaged around 12%. The crude protein content was highest in the whey-treated silages with 5.5 in straw, 4.4 in bagasses, and 2.9% in sawdust. The molasses-treated silages showed 4.6, 2.8 and 2.5% for straw, sawdust and bagasse, respectively. The addition of whey increased the protein content of the ensilages substrates much better than molasses. Molasses silages however, showed the highest fat percentages of 4.3, 3.4 and 2.5 in straw, bagasse and sawdust, respectively. Whey-treated silages exhibited 2.2 in bagasse, 2.0 in straw and 1.6% in sawdust. Water-treated silages showed 1.4, 1.3 and 1.0% in straw, bagasse, and sawdust, respectively. Furthermore, molasses-treated silages showed the highest nitrogen-free extract with 41.3 in bagasse, 29.0 in straw, and 26.8% in sawdust. The whey-treated silages were next with the percentages of 20.9 for sawdust, 13.4 for bagasse, and 13.3 for straw. Water-treated silages had the lowest percentages of 17.6, 10.4 and 7.8 in sawdust, bagasse, and straw, respectively. Molasses-treated silages, naturally, showed the highest nitrogen free extract because it contains a good amount of sugars. The molasses-treated silages showed average pH of 7.5, 7.3 and 6.1 for bagasse, straw, and sawdust, respectively. For the water-treated silages the pH was 5.4 in bagasse, 5.0 in straw, and 4.6 in sawdust. The whey-treated silages showed the lowest pH with 3.3 in sawdust, 3.1 in straw, and 3.0 in bagasse. The silages were fed to the Holstein-Friesian cows. Four hours later, the amount of silages consumed was computed. Within the whey-treated silages, straw and bagasse were consumed at 6502 and 6530 g, respectively, while the sawdust was way down to 1031 g. The molasses-treated silages were consumed at 5112 g in straw, 4644 g in bagasse, and 540 g in sawdust. The water-treated silages were consumed at 3754 g in straw, 3091 g in bagasse, and 190 g in sawdust. Whey-treated silages were consumed more than the molasses-treated silages, while the water-treated silages were the least consumed. The rice straw silages and the sugarcane bagasse silages were equally consumed while the sawdust silages were the least consumed