The use of molasses to improve the fermentation of sweet corn stover silage

In order to investigate the effect of consumption of sugar beet molasses on the fermentation quality and nutritive value of sweet corn stover، the three levels of molasses in a completely randomized design with five replicates were used. Three levels of beet molasses (780 g DM Kg-1) with application rates of 0، 30 and 60 kg per ton (control، 2 and 3 respectively) of fresh sweet corn stover (SCS) were allocated and silage materials were stored into plastic buckets (with 6. 5 kg capacity) and by compacting supplied. After 45 days، The apparent specificity (smell، buildings and color silage)، pH، Fleig point (FP)، chemical composition (dry matter(DM)، crude protein (CP)، ash، neutral detergent fiber (NDF)، acid detergent fiber (ADF) and digestibility of silage was measured. The results showed that all of the silages had desirable degrees in Fleig’s method. Treatment three (3. 77) had lower pH compared with the control (3. 84) (P<0. 05). The amount of dry matter in the treated silages increased with increasing level of addition molasses (P<0. 05). The average CP and ADF contents of corn stover were 7. 72 and 34. 60 percent respectively. In the silage product، the CP content had increased to 8. 2 and ADF content had decreased to 32. 41 percent. The molasses additive increased the digestibility of the silage، but the changes were non-significant. Finally، results show that application 30 Kg molasses per ton SCS were caused for increased fermentation quality and improvement in digestibility of SCSS.