Determining digestibility of alfalfa silage supplemented with different levels of whey and bacterial additive

This study was conducted to determination of the effects of supplementation of alfalfa with fresh whey and bacterial additive before ensiling on the dry matter, organic matter and crude protein degradability’s by nylon bags. Experimental treatments included the levels of 0, 30, 60, and 90 g fresh whey per kg of fresh alfalfa were added to the alfalfa silage with and without bacterial additive (3 × 108 cfu per g fresh alfalfa). Degradability of silage determined using in situ technique with 4 replications (2 replications per sheep) at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours incubation. The data were analyzed in a factorial based (2×4) on a completely randomized design. The highest dry matter degradability was observed for alfalfa silage treatment with 60 g fresh whey, which was observed for 2, 4, 12, 72 and 96 hours of rumen incubation (p < 0.05). The parameter of fraction a of DM in treatments with bacterial additive was not significantly different to compared with control, but in treatments with whey at three different levels (30, 60 and 90 g fresh whey), the significant increase was observed (p < 0.05). After 48 h incubation the highest crude protein degradability was for treatment including 90 g whey and bacterial additive and lowest amount was for treatment including 60 g whey and bacterial additive (p < 0.05). The results show that the addition of whey at different levels increased rapidly degradable, slow degradable fractions and effective degradability of dry matter.