In vitro Fermentation and Acceptability by West African Dwarf Sheep of two Weeks Ensiled Maize Stover With or Without Additives.

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the acceptability, chemical composition and in vitro gas fermentation characteristics of ensiled maize stover with or without additives. The maize stovers were ensiled for 15 days using three energy additives (molasses, honey and sugar) at the rate of 50g kg^-1 in four treatments to obtain the following silages: T₁ (maize stover only) control, T₂ (maize stover + molasses), T₃ (maize stover + honey) and T₄ (maize stover + sugar). The feed samples were dried and milled for gas production determination and chemical composition in a completely randomized design. Eight West African dwarf (WAD) sheep were used to assess the silage acceptability using coefficient of preference (CoP). Nutritive value of the silages was determined using in vitro fermentation technique to obtain total gas volume (TGV ml), methane (CH₄ %), and organic matter digestibility (OMD %) dry matter digestibility (DMD %) short chain fatty acid (SCFA µml) and metabolisable energy (ME Kg/DM).  Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance. The result of coefficient of preference (CoP) indicates that ensiled maize stover with molasses was highly preferred, followed by ensiled maize stover with honey and ensiled maize stover only by WAD sheep with CoP values of 1.05, 1.03 and 1.01. The fibre fractions: neutral detergent fibre, (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL) and Hemicellulose were similar across the treatments. Crude protein (CP) was similar among the treatments except for silage with sugar that was significantly (P<0.05) different from fresh maize stover. Crude fibre (CF) and ash components of the silages were similar across the treatments. There were significant (P<0.05) differences in the treatments means of TGV (34-39.33), CH₄ (5.67-11.33%), DMD (40.00-66.67%), OMD (48.94-53.80%), ME (7.35-8.09KJ/DM) and SCFA (0.75-0.88µml). The findings of this study revealed that in vitro fermentation, chemical composition and acceptability of ensiled maize stover with and with additives by WAD sheep are similar. Therefore, maize stover can be preserved without additives.