EFFECT OF ENSILED SWEET POTATO VINES TREATED WITH ADDITIVES ON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND IN VITRO GAS PRODUCTION

Abstract

This study was carried out to look at the effect of ensiled sweet potato vines treated with molasses, urea and yeast at five weeks. Two varieties of sweet potato vines silage (SPVS) were made with no additive as control T1, with urea T2, with molasses T3 and with yeast T4. The data collected was analyzed using line with marker chat in Microsoft Excel office Software for pH. ANOVA was used to analyze in vitro gas production using SPSS version 20, where significant differences occurred, the means was separated using general linear model.The results showed that King J had a better silage compared to Dan china variety of SPV on control and urea except for molasses and yeast which had equal pH values of 4.5 and 4.8 each respectively for the two varieties. Among the additives, control produced the best silage for King J variety followed by molasses, yeast and urea.The results for in vitro gas production showed that King J and Dan china varieties were significantly different (P˂0.05) at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 21 and 24hr except 15hr on all the treatments. In conclusion, this studies confirmed that the addition of molasses, urea, and yeast improved silage quality of two varieties of sweet potato
vines silage King J and Dan china including the control, with King J as superior variety in terms of silage, while Dan china is better on in vitro gas production. Molasses, urea and yeast are said to be recommended as additive in silage making using sweet potato vines.