Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:54:34.341Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of increasing the acidity or osmolality of grass silage by the addition of free or partially neutralized lactic acid on silage intake by sheep and upon osmolality and acid-base balance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. A. Rooke
J. A. Rooke
Affiliation:
Animal and Feed Technology Department, Scottish Agricultural College, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB9 1UD
Get access

Abstract

A well fermented grass silage was mixed with 9·3 g lactic acid per kg silage supplied either as the free acid (lactic acid) or partially neutralized to pH 5·2 with sodium hydroxide (sodium lactate) to give three dietary treatments. Treatment with lactic acid reduced silage pH (P < 0·05) from 4·03 to 3·80 and increased (P < 0·01) the amount of sodium hydroxide required to raise silage pH to 6·5 (neutralizing value) from 167 to 261 mmol/kg silage and osmolality (P < 0·01) from 712 to 854 mosmoljkg silage; sodium lactate treatment increased (P < 0·05) silage pH to 4·15 and osmolality (P < 0·01) to 964 mosmoljkg silage but did not change neutralizing value.

Wlien fed in a randomized-block design to either six intact lambs or to four rumen fistulated sheep lactic acid treatment reduced (P < 0·05) silage dry matter (DM) intake (g/kg weight0·75) from 34·7 to 27·8 for intact sheep and from 35·5 to 29·9 for fistulated sheep. Intakes of the sodium lactate-treated silage tended to be higher (39·2, intact and 40·1, fistulated sheep, g/kg weight0·75) than the control silage. Silage DM intake was correlated more closely with neutralizing value (r2 = 0·34) than pH (rz = 0·24).

Treatment of silage with lactic acid or sodium lactate did not change rumen pH, volatile fatty acid patterns or osmolality. Blood pH, pCO2 and bicarbonate concentrations were not changed by the diets offered and were within normal ranges. Urine acid-base balance was not affected by lactic acid treatment whereas urine pH, and bicarbonate and sodium excretion were (P < 0·01) increased by sodium lactate treatment of the silage.

Keywords

acid-base equilibriumfood intakegrass silageosmotic pressuresheep
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , October 1995 , pp. 285 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1990. Technical Committee on Responses to Nutrients. Report no. 5. Nutritive requirements of ruminant animals: energy. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews, Series B: Livestock Feeds and Feeding 60: 729–804.Google Scholar
Anil, M. H., Mbanya, J. N., Symonds, H. W. and Forbes, J. H. 1993. Responses in the voluntary intake of hay or silage by lactating cows to intraruminal infusions of sodium acetate or sodium propionate, the tonicity of rumen fluid or rumen distension. British Journal of Nutrition 69: 699–712.Google Scholar
Barber, G. D., Givens, D. I., Kridis, M. S., Offer, N. W. and Murray, I. 1990. Prediction of the organic matter digestibility of grass silage. Animal Feed Science and Technology 28: 115–128.Google Scholar
Bartels, H., Bohmer, M. and Heierli, C. 1972. [Serum creatinine determination without precipitation.] Clinica Chimica Acta 37: 193–197.Google Scholar
Blood, D. C. and Radostits, O. M. 1989. Veterinary medicine. 7th ed, pp. 1463–1465. Bailliere Tindall, London.Google Scholar
Buchanan-Smith, J. G. 1990. An investigation into palatability as a factor responsible for reduced intake of silage by sheep. Animal Production 50: 253–260.Google Scholar
Buchanan-Smith, J. G. and Phillip, L. E. 1986. Food intake in sheep following intraruminal infusion of extracts from lucerne silage with particular reference to organic acids and products of protein degradation. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 106: 611–617.Google Scholar
Carter, R. R. and Grovum, W. L. 1990. A review of the physiological significance of hypertonic body fluids on feed intake and ruminal function: salivation, motility and microbes. Journal of Animal Science 68: 2811–2832.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, D. G. and Choung, J. J. 1993. The nutritional value of grass silage. Proceedings of the tenth international conference on silage research (ed. O'Kiely, P., O'Connell, M. and Murphy, J.), pp. 131–136. Dublin City University, Dublin.Google Scholar
Conrad, H. R., Baile, C. A. and Mayer, J. 1977. Changing meal patterns and suppression of feed intake with increasing amounts of dietary nonprotein nitrogen in ruminants. Journal of Dairy Science 60: 1725–1733.Google Scholar
Dewar, W. A. and McDonald, P. 1961. Determination of dry matter in silage by distillation with toluene. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 12: 790–795.Google Scholar
Dunnett, C. W. 1955. A multiple comparison procedure for comparing several treatments with a control. Journal of the American Statistical Association 50: 1096–1121.Google Scholar
Farhan, S. M. A. and Thomas, P. C. 1978. The effect of partial neutralization of formic acid silages with sodium bicarbonate on their voluntary intake by cattle and sheep. Journal of the British Grassland Society 33: 151–158.Google Scholar
Fried, R., Hoeflmyer, J. and Velosy, G. 1972. A new highly sensitive method for the determination of chloride in body fluids without protein precipitation. Journal of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Biochemistry 10: 280.Google Scholar
Grovum, W. L. and Chapman, H. W. 1988. Factors affecting the voluntary intake of food by sheep. 4. The effect of additives representing the primary tastes on sham intakes by oesophageal-fistulated sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 59: 63–72.Google Scholar
Jaakkola, S. and Huhtanen, P. 1992. Rumen fermentation and microbial protein synthesis in cattle given intraruminal infusions of lactic acid with a grass silage based diet. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 119: 411–418.Google Scholar
Lawes Agricultural Trust. 1987. Genstat 5 reference manual. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Lin, S. L. and Chan, J. C. M. 1975. Urinary bicarbonate: a titrimetric method for determination. Clinical Biochemistry 6: 207–210.Google Scholar
Mbanya, J. M., Anil, M. H. and Forbes, J. M. 1993. The voluntary intake of hay and silage by lactating cows in responses to ruminal infusion of acetate or propionate or both with or without distension of the rumen by a balloon. British Journal of Nutrition 69: 713–720.Google Scholar
McLeod, D. S., Wilkins, R. J. and Raymond, W. F. 1970. The voluntary intake by sheep and cattle of silages differing in free-acid content. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 75: 311–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. 1992. Analysis of agricultural materials. 2nd ed. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Morrin, M. J., Rooke, J. A., Offer, N. W. and Hovell, F. D. DeB. 1994. Prediction of the voluntary intake of grass silages by sheep from rumen degradation measured by the polyester fibre bag or by gas production. Animal Production 58; 456–457.Google Scholar
Offer, N. W., Rooke, J. A., Dewhurst, R. J. and Thomas, C. 1993. Rapid assessment of silage fermentation characteristics by electrometric titration. Animal Production 56: 423 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Phillip, L. E., Buchanan-Smith, J. G. and Grovum, W. L. 1981a. Effects of infusing the rumen with acetic acid and nitrogenous constituents in maize silage extracts on food intake, ruminal osmolality and blood acid-base balance in sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 96: 429–438.Google Scholar
Phillip, L. E., Buchanan-Smith, J. G. and Grovum, W. L. 1981b. Food intake and ruminal osmolality in sheep: differentiation of the effect of osmolality from that of the products of maize fermentation. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 96: 439–445.Google Scholar
Phillip, L. E. and Hidalgo, V. 1989. Voluntary feed intake, acid-base balance and partitioning of urinary nitrogen in lambs fed corn silage with added sodium bicarbonate or sodium sesquicarbonate. Journal of Animal Science 67: 2116–2122.Google Scholar
Phillip, L. E. and Simpson, M. V. 1992. Differentiation of the effects of protein status and acid-base balance on the appetite of sheep for lucerne silage, journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 118: 2149–2157.Google Scholar
Rook, A. J. and Gill, M. 1990. Prediction of the voluntary intake of grass silages by beef cattle. 1. Linear regression analyses. Animal Production 50: 425–438.Google Scholar
Rooke, J. A., Borman, A. J. and Armstrong, D. G. 1990. The effect of inoculation with Lactobacillus plantarum on fermentation in laboratory silos of herbage low in water soluble carbohydrate. Grass and Forage Science 45: 143–152.Google Scholar
Thiago, L. R. L., Gill, M. and Dhanoa, M. S. 1992. Studies of method of conserving grass herbage and frequency of feeding in cattle. 1. Voluntary feed intake, digestion and rate of passage. British Journal of Nutrition 67: 305–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, C. and Wilkinson, J. M. 1975. The utilisation of maize silage for intensive beef production. 3. Nitrogen and acidity as factors affecting the nutritive value of ensiled maize. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 85: 255–261.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. and Thomas, P. C. 1985. Factors affecting the nutritive value of grass silages. In Recent developments in ruminant nutrition — 2 (ed. Haresign, W., and Cole, D. J. A.), pp. 274–307. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Thomas, C., Gill, M. and Austin, A. R. 1980. The effect of supplements of fishmeal and lactic acid on voluntary intake of silage by calves. Grass and Forage Science 35: 275–279.Google Scholar
Willis, J. B. 1962. Determination of lead and other heavy metals in urine by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Analytical Chemistry 34: 614–617.Google Scholar
Young, P. T. 1967. In Handbook of physiology, section 6, vol. 1, (ed. Cole, C. F.), pp. 353–366. American Physiological Society, Washington, DC.Google Scholar