Comparison of Chemical Composition and Nutritive Value in Grain Sorghum and Other Forage Plants such as Sweet Sorghum, Corn and Italian Ryegrass

Abstract

Chemical composition and nutritive value of grain sorghum silages, corn silages, sweet sorghum at various stages and Italian ryegrass at various stages were investigated to obtain the information of feed characteristics of summer forage crops. In this experiment, the contents and digestibilities of cell wall materials were investigated mainly. The percentages of lignin in ADF of sweet sorghum and its average value of five grain sorghum silages prepared at dough stage were 22.8 and 21.0%, respectively. The average value of lignin in ADF of four corn silages prepared at dough stage was 12.6%, and this was lower than those of sorghum group. In vitro digestibilities of isolated cell wall of two grain sorghum silages were lower than those of two corn silages and those of Italian ryegrass samples at various stages.