Fiber composition and degradability of cold season green forage and pre-dried silage harvested at pre-flowering

This study aimed to evaluate the contents of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, as well as the rates of dry matter degradability in forage and pre-dried silage of different winter cereals harvested at pre-flowering. The experiment was conducted by the Animal Production Center (NUPRAN), Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, State University of Midwest (UNICENTRO). It is located in Guarapuava – PR, Brazil. The study was part of the Master's Degree in Crop Production. As experimental materials, we used black oat (Avena strigosa) cv. EMB 139 and cv. IAPAR 61; white oat (Avena sativa) cv. IPR and 126 hp. URS Taura; barley (Hordeum vulgare) cv. BRS Brau and cv. BRS Cauê; wheat (Triticum aestivum) cv. BRS Umbu and cv. BRS Tarumã; rye (Secale cereale) cv. Temprano and cv. BRS Serrano; and triticale (X Triticosecale) cv. IPR and 111 hp. BRS Saturn. Dry matter degradability was measured by an in situ technique, arranged in a completely randomized block design with three replications (animal), subdivided in subplots. Treatments were the plots and subplots digestion times. The incubation times were 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours. To that end, we used two 24-month rumen fistulated steers with 350 kg average weight. A similarity was observed in the results of both forage and pre-dried silage degradability, displaying the same trends. Barley cv. BRS Brau had the highest hemicellulose content in its composition; however, IPR 111 triticale was showed the highest degradability potential, both for green forage and pre-dried silage.