Ozonated cotton stalks as a silage additive: Digestion of total and cell wall monosaccharide constituents of lucerne based dairy cows rations

Lucerne was ensiled either by the conventional wilting process (WL) or as a mixture of 80% fresh lucerne + 20% ozonated cotton stalks (L + OCS), and the effect of feeding these silages to dairy cows on performance and on the digestibility of ration carbohydrate constituents was examined. ws in mid-lactation were divided into two equal groups with similar performance data at the onset of the experiment, and fed ad libitum for 28 days total mixed rations composed of 70% concentrate, 15% lucerne hay and 15% of either WL silage or L + OCS silage. e daily milk yields during the experimental period were 27.1 and 27.6 kg in the WL and L + OCS groups, respectively, and the L + OCS cows gained higher body weight. Milk composition was similar in both treatments. silage had a lower content of neutral detergent soluble (NDS) glucose, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) glucose and NDF xylose, and a higher content of arabinose, galactose and mannose than L + OCS silage. ydrate digestibility was 83 and 85% in the WL and L + OCS rations, respectively. gestibility was similar (45.0%) in both rations; however, digestion of NDF glucose, xylose and total polysaccharides was slightly higher in the L + OCS group than in the WL ration. h rations, NDF glucose was more digestible than NDF xylose and NDF uronic acid and less digestible than NDF arabinose, galactose and mannose. ibility of total NDS carbohydrate was 89% in WL ration and 91% in L + OCS ration, and in both groups, digestion of NDS mannose and galactose was lower than that of NDS glucose, arabinose and pectin. f this study indicate that a direct-cut and ensiled lucerne silage made of L + OCS is equivalent to lucerne haylage as a component in lactating cow rations.