The aim of this study was to examine the effect of different
levels of molasses on fermentation quality and nutritive value of foxtail
millet silage. Silage of foxtail millet is tested in micro-silos, treatments
included control (no additive), 2.5, 5 and 7.5% molasses. Silages were
assessed using both method of appearance evaluation and method of DM,
pH. CP, NDF, ADF, TVFA, WSC, aerobic stability and DM degradation. Each
of treatments was determined after 60 days. Treated silages had better
appearance quality than the control silages in Flieg`s method. All of
the silages had good and very good degrees in the method based on DM,
pH. The treated silages had lower pH compared with the control (p<0.05).
The control group had lower DM content than treated silages (p<0.05).
The concentration of ADF, NDF and WSC in the treated silage decreased
with increasing level of addition molasses (p<0.05). The amount of
CP, DDM, DE, ME, TDN and TVFA in the treated silages increased with increasing
level of addition molasses (p<0.05). Application of 7.5% molasses as
an additive to foxtail millet resulted in improved degradation dry matter
and aerobic stability (p<0.05). PDFFulltextXMLReferencesCitation
How to cite this article
S. Arbabi and T. Ghoorchi, 2008. The Effect of Different Levels of Molasses as Silage Additives on Fermentation Quality of Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica) Silage. Asian Journal of Animal Sciences, 2: 43-50.