Silage – An Option as Nutritive Fodder for Cattle
Silage has a very long history. It remains a crucial food source for dairy cattle to this day.India is the largest producer of milk among all the countries in the world. Despite being the largest producer, the cattle productivity, and efficiency are very less than the global average. The average yield is about 1,600 Kg/animal whereas the world average is about 2,700 kg/animal. Israel and USA are the leading countries with an average yield of about 13,000 and 10,500 Kg/animal respectively. Poor nutrition, poor farm management, improper feed management, and also genetically being low potential are the main reasons for the low yield resulting in the low income of dairy farmers and other reasons such as the high cost of livestock feed which is roughly 60-70% of their daily income. On the other hand, India has a deficit of 36% in green fodder and 11% in dry fodder. Unavailability is much more severe during the summer and when the monsoon is a deficit.
To bridge the gap between demand and supply of cattle feed, alternatives for green and dry fodder need to be discovered. One such solution to the challenge is good quality silage (Silage is fermented, high-moisture stored fodder that can be fed to cattle, sheep and other such ruminants or used as a biofuel feedstock for anaerobic digesters) which also helps to reduce the volume of feed and thereby decreasing the overall cost of feed along while meeting the nutritional requirement. Long term preservation of fodder in terms of Silage became a solution to overcome the challenge of green fodder. Silage ensures the availability of cattle feed during the dry season. Silage also helps in improving the digestibility of animals and in continuing milk production throughout the year. Corn silage is a digestible and edible forage with consistent quality, higher yields and more energy content as compared to other forage. Corn silage once prepared can be stored for around two years due to increased shelf life. It is more nutritious than other feed options and also improves farm productivity by substantially reducing production costs. Further inoculants containing lactic acid-producing bacteria help in improving the fermentation process, retain valuable nutrients, reduce losses, increase milk production and also improves the quality of milk by increasing fat percentage and protein in milk.
In India, generally manual methods are followed for silage preparation which involves fermentation and storage in a process called ensilage, ensiling or silaging. It is usually prepared from grass, maize, sorghum or other cereals using the entire green plant (not the grain alone) which preserves nutritional value for a longer duration. In two weeks, fodder is fermented and silage is ready to use. Mechanization for corn-based silage preparation is still a very nascent stage.
Maize silage
Silage is the term used for the product formed when any green plant material is put in a place where it can ferment in the absence of air. When green fodders are in plenty they are conserved as silage to meet the demand of good quality fodder during lean season.
Silage is the green succulent roughage preserved more or less in its original condition, with minimum deterioration and minimum loss of nutritive constituents of fodders. The process of conserving green fodder is called as ensilage. Silo is the receptacle in which silage is made. Green, fruity silage is the most palatable and nutritious type with a DM (dry matter) of 25-35%.
During ensiling, fermentation of sugars forms acids and breaks down some of the forage proteins into simpler compounds, including ammonia.
Advantages:
- Crops can be ensiled when the weather does not permit curing them into hay or dry fodder;
- Use of silage generally makes it possible to keep more animals on a given land area;
- Silage furnishes high-quality succulent feed for any season of the year at a low expense
- Satisfactory silage can be produced from weed crops that would make poor hay. The ensiling process kills many kinds of weed seeds
- Crop from a larger area can be stored in less space as silage than as dry fodder.
Crops:
Crops rich in soluble sugars/CHO are most suitable for ensiling. eg. Maize (corn), jowar, bajra. Cultivated and natural grasses can be ensiled with addition of 3-3.5% molasses
Stage of Harvesting:
Crop should be harvested between flowering and milk stage. In general, crops with thick stems are conserved in form of silage while thin stemmed crops are conserved as hay.
Silo:
It is an air-tight structure designed for the storage and preservation of high moisture fodder as silage.
Pit silos are common. Pits are dug 2.4 to 3m depth, with variable sizes. 1 cubic meter of space is required for 400kg fodder. The size of a silo should be calculated based on the number of cows to be fed and the length of the feeding period.
Preparation:
Select crop that is to be ensiled when it has 30-35% dry matter. Crops are harvested and ensiled when ears start coming. It is always better to chop fodder first since packing is better and loss of nutrients is minimized.
Fodder should be evenly distributed throughout the pit. At the top of silo fodder should be packed 3-4 feet above ground level. It should be covered with long paddy straw or poor quality grasses on all sides and then covered with wet mud and dung to seal and prevent entry of air and water. The layer may be about 4-5 inches thick.
0.5% salt, 1% urea are added to cereals and grasses to improve palatability and nitrogen content.
Temperature rises to about 27 to 38 degrees Celsius. Fermentation starts to convert green crops into silage.
Silage would be ready in 2 months.
Fermentation:
Fermentation can occur in two ways: lactic acid fermentation and butyric acid fermentation.
When fodder contains 65% to 75% moisture and enough sugar, anaerobic lactic acid bacteria becomes active, to produce a good clean- smelling silage of high quality (pH 4).
If forage is too rich in proteinaceous substances, butyric acid fermentation will dominate. Butyric acid has a sharp, disagreeable smell and such silage is not relished by animals.
Store the plant material at a moisture content of 65%-75% excluding air to minimize loss of nutrients due to respiration, to initiate growth of lactic acid bacteria rapidly, to prevent mold formation, to prevent development of aerobic organisms.
Color:
When temperature in the silo is moderate, silage tends to be yellowish or brownish green and sometimes even golden in color. This is due to action of organic acids on chlorophyll and its conversion into brown, magnesium free pigment, Phaeophytin. Silage is dark brown or black when temperature in silo the is high.
Quality:
Very good silage has acidic taste and smell, is free from butyric acid, mold, sliminess, has pH in 3.5-4.2 range, has 1%-2% lactic acid and ammoniacal nitrogen less than 10% of total nitrogen.
Good silage has acidic taste and smell, has traces of butyric acid, has pH in 4.2-4.5 range and has ammoniacal nitrogen about 10-15% of total nitrogen.
Fair silage has ensiled material with some butyric acid, slight proteolysis, some molds, pH 4.8 and above and 20% ammoniacal nitrogen.
Checklist for making good silage:
- Avoid bad weather at the time of harvest
- Assess the quantity of crop to be harvested
- Check the condition of silo.
- Check growth stage of the crop
- Addition of molasses, salt, etc.
- Proper filling of silo
- Covering and sealing of silo
Corn Silage business opportunities in India
India is the largest producer of milk in the world. Despite being the largest producer, the cattle productivity is very less than global average. The average yield is about 1600 Kg/animal whereas world average is about 2700 kg/animal. Israel and USA are the leading countries with average yield of about 13000 and 10500 Kg/animal respectively. Poor nutrition and improper feed management are the reasons for low yield with prime reasons being low genetic potential, poor farm management i.e. low input/ low output system results in low income of dairy farmers and other reason is high cost of livestock feed which is roughly 60-70% of their daily income. On the other hand India is facing deficit of 36% in green fodder and 11% in dry fodder. Non-availability is much more severe during summer season and when monsoon is deficit.
In order to bridge the gap between demand and supply of cattle feed, alternatives for green and dry fodder need to be discovered. One such solution to the challenge is the use of good quality silage (Silage is fermented, high-moisture stored fodder which can be fed to cattle, sheep and other such ruminants or used as a biofuel feedstock for anaerobic digesters) which also helps to reduce the volume of feed and thereby decreasing the overall cost of feed along with meeting the nutritional requirement. Long term preservation of fodder in terms of silage becomes the option to overcome the challenge of green fodder. Silage ensures availability of cattle feed during dry-season. Silage also helps in improving the digestibility of animals and in continuing milk production throughout the year.Corn silage is a digestible and edible forage with consistent quality, higher yields and more energy content as compared to other forage. Corn silage once prepared can be stored for around two years due to increased shelf life. It is more nutritious than other feed options and also improves the farm productivity by substantially reducing the production costs. Further inoculants containing lactic acid-producing bacteria helps in improving fermentation process, retain valuable nutrients, reduce losses, increase milk production and also improves quality of milk by increasing fat percentage and protein in milk.
In India, generally manual methods are followed for silage preparation which involves fermentation and storage in a process called ensilage, ensiling or silaging. It is usually prepared from grass, maize, sorghum or other cereals using the entire green plant (not the grain alone) which preserves nutritional value for longer duration. In two weeks’ time fodder is fermented and silage is ready to use. Mechanization for corn based silage preparation is still at very nascent stage. Keeping in mind the nutritional value of the crop, some farmers in Punjab have started end-to-end mechanized silage preparation. These farmers are using machinery for corn based silage preparation. Government also provide incentives for promotion of these machinery for silage preparation. Seed companies also provide trainings on package of practice for silage preparation. Hence end-to-end mechanization for silage making units can further be promoted for overall improving the dairy sector and in turn corn industry will boom.
For silage preparation, high-yielding biomass corn hybrids with better digestibility and quality nutrients are required. It opens up the opportunity for many seed companies to cater to this market. DuPont Pioneer, leading global company is leader in the market for high-yielding corn varieties specifically suitable for livestock feed. There are only few companies involved in the seed business especially for corn silage which clearly indicates huge opportunity for seed companies to enter the market.
Still there are some challenges with fodder crops industry in India as land under cultivated fodder crops is almost static and there is little scope of expansion due to reducing availability of per capita land.Largely non-commercial status of forage crops and unorganized small market for fodder crops without any government policy back up like minimum support price (MSP), is putting forage production as a low priority agricultural activity.
Growing corn silage industry is a better choice in reducing the huge gap between the Indian productivity of milk and the world average productivity. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in 5th edition of India Maize Summit, 2018, has proposed PPP opportunities for establishment of maize-based silage making units, as a prospective avenues for investment. Going forward, corn silage sector needs impetus and support from various stakeholders for better growth and increasing yields for milk.
Silage – An Option as Nutritive Fodder for Cattle
DR HARENDRA SINGH,FODDER CONSULTANT,PUNJAB
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