Science: News and Articles
Haylage and Feed Quality
Haylage is a feed made from grasses, predominantly perennial (legumes and cereals), harvested during the budding or heading stage, wilted to a certain moisture level, then mown and laid in windrows.
After a day, the wilted mass is collected, chopped, and loaded into well-insulated feed storage facilities (towers, trenches).
Haylage-making is a method of preserving wilted grasses, mainly legumes, harvested at the beginning of the budding stage.
Haylage combines the positive qualities of both hay and silage. The basis of the grass haylage-making process is the physiological dryness of the wilted plants, as well as their isolation from air access.
Under field conditions, it is difficult to obtain haylage mass of uniform moisture. Leaves and inflorescences dry out faster, while a large amount of moisture still remains in the stems.
Wilting of grasses is one of the critical operations in haylage preparation technology. It is very important that wilting proceeds quickly and evenly.
To obtain high-quality haylage, it is necessary to strictly follow the harvesting technology.
If the haylage harvesting technology is violated (contamination of the preserved mass with soil, insufficient isolation from air access), the feed may accumulate butyric acid in significant quantities, which can be a product of protein decomposition.
The processes of decomposition and mold growth can lead to the formation of mycotoxins.
Mycotoxins are a group of highly toxic chemical substances, secondary metabolites of mold fungi activity.
Consumption of feeds contaminated with mycotoxins by animals can cause acute poisoning — mycotoxicoses.
The intake of mycotoxins into the animal organism, even in small doses, can reduce productivity, body weight gain, and create favorable conditions for the development of many infectious diseases.
One of the most important conditions for combating mycotoxins is properly conducted silage and haylage production technology.
To prevent the activity of mold fungi and the development of mycotoxicoses during silage or haylage preparation, it is necessary to use biological preparations containing live bacteria in their composition, which are antagonists of conditionally pathogenic microorganisms through the production of biologically active metabolic products.
The NTC BIO product line includes biological preparations "Concentrate Silvit V" and "Silvit Forte" — preservatives for haylage and silage production from green feeds, grain preservation, and processing waste from industrial crops.
The preparations are designed for silage and haylage production, to accelerate fermentation processes and accumulation of preserving concentrations of lactic and propionic acids and enzymes, suppression of negative microflora development, elimination of nutrient losses, and enrichment of feeds with probiotic cultures and biologically active substances.
The preparations contain lactic acid microorganisms, Bacillus subtilis microorganisms, and their metabolic products (organic acids and enzymes).
The use of "Concentrate Silvit V" and "Silvit Forte" in silage, haylage, and preservation ensures:
- Acceleration of the fermentation process and accumulation of preserving concentrations of lactic and propionic acids and enzymes;
- Prevention of negative microflora development (protection against decay, mold growth, and butyric acid formation);
- Reduction of nutrient losses and improvement of the quality of harvested feeds;
- Enrichment of feeds with probiotic cultures and biologically active substances.
The microbiological preservatives "Silvit V" and "Silvit Forte" enable the production of harvested feeds of consistently high quality, with a high digestibility coefficient, increased preservation and palatability, which can subsequently serve as a key to increased productivity, immune system preservation and herd health, and reduced economic (veterinary) losses.
The use of "Silvit V" and "Silvit Forte" preservatives ensures moderate intensity of fermentation processes, the most favorable ratio of organic acids, and lower contamination with undesirable microflora, resulting in higher-quality feeds.