Nutritional Assessment of Green Grass vs. Silage of Napier and Sudan Grass at Different Cutting Age

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine and compare the chemical composition of Napier and Sudan grass and compare with silage at different growth stage. The nutrients under study through proximate analysis included: dry matter, crude fibre, crude protein, ash, ether extract. Their study showed that Napier grass and it’s silage contains dry matter 16.87%, 20.51% at 40 days of age, 22.33%, 13.9% at 60 days of age , 16.4%, 14.59% at 70 days of age; crude protein contains 6.8%,7.18% at 40 days of age, 5.9%, 5.6% at 60 days of age, 6.49%, 5.43% at 70 days of age; crude fibre contains 35.5%, 38.03% at 40 days of age, 38.02%, 42.27% at 60 days of age, 35.01%, 46.36% at 70 days of age; ash contains 9.60%, 9.68% at 40 days of age, 10.38%, 9.29% at 60 days of age, 14.85%, 12.76% at 70 days of age; ether extract contains 1.8%, 2.59% at 40 days of age, 1.55%, 2.01% at 60 days of age, 1.83%, 2.11% at 70 days of age . The study showed that Sudan grass and it’s silage contains dry matter 17.38%, 14.57% at 40 days of age, 22.3%, 18.72% at 60 days of age, 23.37%, 12.39% at 70 days of age; crude protein contains 8.4%, 7.88% at 40 days of age, 7.23%, 7.26% at 60 days of age, 4.9%, 5.34% at 70 days of age; crude fibre contains 32.31%, 44.97% at 40 days of age, 34.76%, 36.82% at 60 days of age, 31.52%, 38.57% at 70 days of age; ash contains 11.9%, 11.01% at 40 days of age, 8.86%, 8.63% at 60 days of age, 7.17%, 6.82% at 70 days of age; ether extract 2.2%, 2.44% at 40 days of age, 2.05%, 2.26% at 60 days of age, 1.72%,1.66% at 70 days of age. In the conclusions 40 days of harvesting age of Napier and Sudan grass contain high nutrients like crude protein, EE, ash but contain low crude fibre than increase with age of grass. But nutrients contents may be varied due to many factors with increase of age. Also here study shown that, silage made by Napier and Sudan grass contents different nutrients under different age.