NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF PEARL MILLET SILAGE FORTIFIED WITH GRADED LEVELS OF LABLAB FORAGE

Abstract

A study was conducted with the field grown Pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoides Burm.f) and lablab (Lablab purpereus (L.) Sweet) to examine the effects of lablab addition in enhancement of silage quality from pearl millet. The forages were harvested separately, chopped to 2cm length and mixed as follows: (0:100, 20:80, 40:60 and 60:40 % of lablab: millet, respectively) and designated as PM, PMLB20, PMLB40 and PMLB60 respectively. The treatments were ensiled in a laboratory silos in three replicate. The resultant silages were adequately fermented with favorable aroma and colour and moderately acidic. The treatments were found to be similar in DM contents (p>0.05). Incorporation of lablab forage led to an increase in CP (10.93 to 13.75%), ash (7.50 to 10.22%), DCP (5.12 to 5.90%), EE (1.00 to 2.25 %) and ME (9.51 to 10.24%) with corresponding decline in CF (28.37 to 24.01%) and OM (90.31 to 83.05%). The trial showed that legume inclusion enhanced the nutritional quality of pearl millet silages