PJB-2019-980
QUALITY EVALUATION OF SILAGE BALES PRESSED BY NEWLY DEVELOPED FORAGE COMPACTOR FOR SMALL FARMERS
Talha Mehmood
Abstract
Quality forages are natural and the cheapest feeding option for livestock but their continuous supply always remained a bottleneck for the development of livestock industry. The objective of present study was to assess quality of silage bales pressed by newly developed forage compactor for small farmers. Experiment was laid out following CRD factorial with three repeats at PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi during 2018-19. Samples were taken from wheat + oat mixture under subtropical rain-fed conditions. Mixture crops were grown at seeding density of 50 kg using recommended fertilizers i.e. one bag of DAP and Urea each. The efficiency of forage compactor was tested against two chop lengths (mm), three levels of moisture content (%) and pressure (psi) each. Data for various traits were recorded after fermentation period of one month and assessed quality of silage viz., color, smell, moisture content, dry matter and pH. Data were analyzed statistically using Statistix 8.1 software. Results showed highly significant differences for moisture content, dry matter and pH. Fodder moisture content (64 %) along with applied pressure (750 psi) and chop length (15 mm) were found most suitable for silage making. The pH had inverse relation with applied pressure level suggesting that pH decreased with the increase of pressure level. Similarly fodder moisture content of silage had negative association with pH of silage produced. As the moisture level decreased, pH increased accordingly.
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