PRODUCTION OF BENEFICIAL LOCAL MICROORGANISM SOLUTION FROM HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY COMPOUND AND EFFECT OF ITS APPLICATION RATE AND ENSILING PERIOD ON QUALITY OF BARLEY (HORDEUM VULGARE) STRAW SILAGE

Abstract

The experiment was conducted at Haramaya University compound, to evaluate three beneficial local microorganism (BLM) harvesting protocols and the effect of application rate and ensiling period of barley straw (BS) with beneficial local microorganism solution on its silage quality. The three procedures Niva, Rodrigueze and Davenport were used for production of beneficial local microorganism solution with three replication in a completely randomized design for each treatment (procedures) for experiment one. The quality of the beneficial indigenous microorganism solution was evaluated by assessing the pH and microbial population per unit solution. All the procedures were effective at p<0.05. From the three methods of BLM production Davenport procedure was the best one (p<0.05) in pH and microbial population. The pH, Lactic Acid Bacteria, Yeast, Photosynthetic bacteria, Fermenting fungi and Actinomycetes were significantly vary across all treatments solution and lower pH was observed in Davenport solution whereas except the Yeast and fermenting fungi, highest microbial population was observed in the Davenport solution. The BLM stock solution produced by Davenport procedure was used for the preparation of silage from barley straw after activation and dilution for twenty one days. The silage was made from BS soaked in water overnight, inoculated with BLM at application rate (AR) of 250, 500 or 750mL/kg (AR250, AR500 and AR750, respectively) and packed in plastic bags for 14, 21 or 28 days (EP14, EP21 and EP28, respectively). At the end of ensiling period the bags were withdrawn and the silages were subjected to physical appraisals, pH measurement, and chemical and in-vitro digestibility analysis. The colour, odour, texture and presence of mold of all the silages were nearly similar and of good quality and fungus was not observed. But the odor and color of BS ensiled for 14 days and inoculated at a rate of 250mL/kg BLM was different from that of BS ensiled for 28 days and inoculated at a rate of 750ml/kg. The pH values of the silages were 3.94, 4.51 and 4.95 for EP14, EP21 and EP28 respectively. In all types of silages, treatment affected the chemical composition through decreasing OM (914.09, 910.22 and 905.6) and NDF (277.81, 257.62 and 254.09) and increasing the ash (72.44, 75.38 and 78.62 and CP (56.32, 54.02 and 52.84) for EP14, EP21 and EP28 and AR250, AR500 and AR750, respectively. Cold water soaked BS ensiled for 14 days inoculated with BLM at a rate of 250mL/kg was found to have better nutritional quality than those ensiled for 21 and 28 days at rates of 500 and 750mL/kg application rates. Therefore, it could be concluded that increasing ensiling period and application rate of BLM affects the silage quality. Hence, further study is recommended to verify the optimum rate lower than 14days and250mi/kg EP and AR of BLM on the quality of barley straw silage.