Evaluating the effects of different silage additives on silage quality and in vitro digestion values of the silages of leguminous and gramineous forage plants grown without fertilizer and irrigation in central Anatolian arid conditions

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of molasses, and bacterial inoculants on silage quality, fermentation characteristics, nutrient contents, and in vitro digestibility of different forage species grown at terrestrial climate of Central Anatolia without any artificial fertilizer usage and irrigation. Forage peas (Pisum arvense L.), Hungarian vetch (Vicia pannonica Crantz), rye grass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) and triticale (xTriticosecale Wittmack) harvested at the dough stage of triticale and conserved in 1.5 kg jars. Silages were treated with no additive (control silage), 5% molasses and 10 g/t bacterial inoculant. Sensory, pH, organic acid, chemical analyses and in vitro digestibility of all silages were determined Forage peas silage had the highest lactic and acetic acid concentrations among all silages. Addition of both molasses and inoculant did not affect the lactic acid (LA) contents of silages (p 0.05), but both them increased acetic acid contents (p < 0.05). Ammonia-N concentrations were higher in forage peas silage compared with other silages (p < 0.05). The concentrations of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and crude protein (CP) were significantly different among silages (p < 0.05). The addition of molasses significantly reduced the silage OM, NDF and ADF contents (p < 0.05). In vitro OM digestibilities and energy values of silage were significantly different among silages made from different forages (p < 0.05), but not affected by silage additives. It can be concluded that high quality silage can be prepared from legume forages such as peas and vetch and small cereal grains such as rye and triticale grown without fertilizer usage and irrigation in central Anatolian arid conditions without any silage additive application, and but silage additive use may improve silage quality