Comparison the effect of corn, sorghum and millet silages on feed intake, digestibility and ruminal parameters in goat

In order to compare the effect of corn, sorghum and millet silages in experimental diets on nutrient intake, digestibility, and ruminal parameters, six two-year-old male Rainy goats were used with an average weight of 37±6.5 in a 3×3 Latin square design. Dry matter and other nutrients intake was higher in corn silage diet than the other two experimental diets and in sorghum silage diet was higher than millet silage diet (P<0.05). The organic of matter digestibility was higher in corn silage than millet silage diet (P<0.05). The rumen NH3-N concentration in corn silage diet was higher than millet silage diet at two, four, six and eight hours after feeding (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between diets containing corn silage and sorghum silage at any time. The ruminal pH in sorghum silage was lower than the other two experimental diets at Eight hours after feed intake (P<0.05). The population of Holotrich, Cellolytic, entodinium protozoa and the total population of protozoa were higher in corn silage than sorghum silage diet and in sorghum silage diet were higher than the diet millet silage diet (P<0.05). The type of silages in the experimental diets had no significant effect on the production of ruminal microbial protein. But the production of valeric and isovaleric acid was higher in the millet silage diet than the sorghum silage diet (P<0.05). The experimental results showed a better quality of corn silage, but water shortages and recent droughts make it necessary to plant fodder with lower water consumption.