Short-term effects of silage volatile compounds on feed intake and digestion in beef cattle

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate whether fermentation end products in silage affect intake and digestion in beef cattle. Six rumen-cannulated Nellore steers were randomly assigned to a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design with 14-d periods. Each period consisted of 9 d for adaptation and 5 d for sample collection. Steers were housed in a tie-stall barn and individually fed once daily at 0800 h. The dietary treatments in Exp. 1 were as follows: 60% corn silage plus 40% concentrate (CON), 60% corn silage with added ethanol (2.8% on a DM basis) and 40% concentrate (ET), and 60% corn silage with added lactic acid (5.4% on a DM basis) and 40% concentrate (LA). The DMI was similar (P = 0.41) across treatments (average 11.7 kg/d); however, the LA treatment increased the ruminal pH (P = 0.01) and decreased the acetate:propionate ratio (P < 0.01). Diet digestibility decreased by 2.2 to 2.5 percentage units when the DM content was determined by oven drying (at 105°C) rather than by toluene distillation. The treatments in Exp. 2 were as follows: 75% sugarcane silage with no volatile fraction (oven dried at 60°C and rehydrated) and 25% concentrate (75D), 75% sugarcane silage (original moisture content) and 25% concentrate (75W), and 40% sugarcane silage and 60% concentrate (40W). Approximately 21% of the DM content of sugarcane silage consisted of volatile compounds. The presence of these compounds did not alter the DMI (P = 0.36) but did increase both the acetate:propionate ratio (P < 0.01) and the fractional absorption rates of valerate (P < 0.01) and ethanol (P = 0.02) in the empty reticulorumen. The 40W diet led to a greater DMI (40W = 9.79 vs. 75W = 6.19 kg/d; P < 0.01), which altered most of the measured variables traditionally associated with high-concentrate diets. As in Exp. 1, diet digestibility decreased by 1.5 to 5.4 units when the DM content was determined by oven drying at 105°C rather than by toluene distillation. In this short-term study, volatile compounds did not inhibit the DMI or the digestion process of the animals. On the contrary, volatile compounds contributed to the energy content of the silage, composing up to 10% of the energy value as determined by digestibility. Due to the short experimental periods, the results from this study should be interpreted with caution.