In situ Rumen Degradation Characteristics of Maize, Sorghum and Sorghum‐Sudan Grass Hybrids Silages as Affected by Stage of Maturity

This research was conducted to investigate in situ degradation characteristics of maize, sorghum and sor-ghum-Sudan grass hybrids. whole plant of maize (TTM-815, DK-711), sorghum (SS-506, FS-5) and sor-ghum × Sudan grass hybrids (P-988, Grazer N2) were grown under semi-arid conditions and harvested at different maturity stages (mid-flowering (MF), milk-line (ML) and hard-dough (HD)) and ensiled. Three replicate silage samples were incubated at 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72 and 96 h. in three rumen fistulated Holstein heifers. Effects of species had a large impact on rumen degradation characteristics values (a, b, (a+b), c), effective dry matter degradability (EDMD) and metabolizable energy (ME) MJ/kg for maize (M), sorghum (S) and sorghum × Sudan grass hybrids (SSH) silages. Effective dry matter degradability (EDMD2) of dry matter was found as 286.65, 259.37, 265.0 g/kg for species silages, respectively (P<0.0001). Acid detergent fiber (ADF) was found to be the best single predictor of effective dry matter degradability of sorghum × Sudan grass hybrids silages (P<0.05, R=0.448).