Effects of Adding Different Levels of Date Pulp on the Aerobic Stability, Degradability Parametrs and Nutritional Value of Alfalfa Silage using Gas Production

In the current state of the country, the shortage of food in animal nutrition can reduce the cost of supplying the nutrients needed by humans and eliminating costly waste from industrial residues from the three aspects of reducing livestock dependency on cereals consumed by humans. The conversion of agriculture and the prevention of environmental pollution from the accumulation of these residues should be considered. Date palp is a product that is obtained after the extraction of the date palm and includes the meaty part of the fruit and the palm kernel. Date palp can be the successor to more expensive carbohydrate sources. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of adding different levels of date pulp on the quality, fermentation and digestibility of alfalfa silage, and determining the best level of date pulp in alfalfa silage.

This research was conducted in a completely randomized design with 9 treatments and 3 replications. Treatments were: alfalfa (control), alfalfa, 97.5% + date palp 2.5%, alfalfa 95% + date palp 5%, alfalfa 92.5% + date palp 7.5%, alfalfa 90% date palp 10%, alfalfa 87.5% + date pulp 12.5%, alfalfa 85% + date pulp 15%, alfalfa 72.5% + date pulp 17.5%, alfalfa 80% + date pulp 20%. Sample composition was determined using standard methods. Gas production test was used to estimate gas production parameters. The alfalfa silage stabilizer was evaluated at different hours after opening the silage door.

The results showed that there was a significant difference in chemical composition between treatments. Among the treatments, alfalfa silage contained 15% of date palp, which had the lowest amount of ammonia nitrogen compared to other treatments. Adding different levels of date pulp to alfalfa silage significantly decreased pH of silage compared to control (P <0.05). The pH value in the treatment containing 12.5% ​​of the date pulp compared to the control treatment significantly decreased (4.14 vs. 5.31). The date pulp at 10% level in alfalfa silage increased aerobic stability by 188 hours versus 38 hours of silage control. Date pulp did not affect the dry matter of alfalfa silage. The highest amount of crude protein was found in the treatment containing 12.5% ​​of date pulp. The lowest and the highest amount of produced gas were 20 and 10 percent date pulp treatments, respectively. The date pulp at levels of 7.5% and 12.5%, respectively, increased the degradability of dry matter and the crude protein of alfalfa silage.

According to the results of this study, the use of date pulp is recommended to improve nutritional value, fermentation parameters, digestibility and aerobic stability of alfalfa silage.