Residual effect of fertilizer types and ensiling durations on fermentative characteristics of Panicum maximum (Ntchisi) silage

摘要

Availability of both quantity and quality of forage feed for ruminant all through the year in the tropics is a major constraint to profitable animal production and enterprise.Forages such as grass and legume are preserved as silage, most especially during the dry season. Silage can be provided as feed for ruminant production throughout the year or in periods of restricted or scare seasonal availability of pasture, by supplementing the diet with valuable energy and protein sources (Heinritz et al., 2012). In principle, forage silage was made by controlled anaerobic fermentation. Silage is produced successfully when bacteria producing lactic acid dominate fermentation and restrict the activity of Clostridia (Bureenok et al., 2006).