Yogurt and molasses can alter microbial-digestive and nutritional characteristics of pomegranate leaves silage

AMB Express

Table 5 Some ruminal fermentation parameters measured in the culture medium after incubation of fresh pomegranate leaves or ensiled with different additives

Treatment	NH₃-N	TVFA	pH 24 h	OMD	ME	NEl	DMD
PL before ensiling	15.5^cd	63.4^a	6.81	72.8^a	5.82^a	3.01^abc	69.1^a
PL after ensiling	16.3^a	59.8^c	6.90	51.0^d	4.58^c	2.15^d	46.7^d
PL ensiled 2% yogurt	15.9^b	61.6^b	6.92	57.7^c	5.17^b	2.56^bcd	53.7^c
PL ensiled 4% yogurt	15.3^d	64.6^a	6.91	72.8^a	6.01^a	3.15^a	68.9^a
PL ensiled 2% molasses	15.9^b	61.5^b	6.87	58.1^c	5.05^bc	2.48^cd	54.2^c
PL ensiled 4% molasses	15.8^bc	63.9^a	6.84	64.6^b	5.85^a	3.04^ab	60.7^b
SEM	0.12	0.46	0.08	0.41	0.17	0.11	0.57
P-value	0.0006	< 0.0001	0.91	< 0.0001	0.0004	0.0003	< 0.0001

Means within columns followed by the same letter are not different
OMD and DMD were determined after 24 h incubation
PL pomegranate leaves, NH₃-N (mg/dL): ammonia nitrogen, TVFA (mmol/L) total volatile fatty acid, OMD (%) organic matter digestibility, ME (MJ/kg DM) metabolizable energy, NEl (MJ/kg DM) net energy for lactation, DMD (%) dry matter digestibility
SEM standard error of the mean