Whole-crop triticale silage for dairy cows grazing perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) or tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum) pastures in small-scale dairy systems during the dry season in the highlands of Mexico

The dry season in central Mexico is a difficult time for small-scale dairy systems to meet feed requirements for their herds as pasture growth is limited. Conserved forage options are needed to complement pastures. The objective was to assess on-farm the production of dairy cows complemented with triticale silage ( X. Triticosecale Witt . (TSL)) at two levels of inclusion (5.0 and 7.5 kg DM/d), grazing pastures of two grass species during the dry season: perennial ryegrass (PRG; Lolium perenne ) or tall fescue (TFC; Lolium arundinaceum ) (TFC) with white clover ( Trifolium repens ), and 4.65 kg DM/d concentrate. Experimental design was a 2 × 2 factorial in repeated 4 × 4 Latin squares. Chemical composition of TSL was 96 g CP/kg DM, 667 g NDF/kg DM, 713 g in vitro enzymatic digestibility of OM (IVEDOM)/kg DM, and pH of 4.6. There were differences ( P