THE QUALITY OF FRESH AND ENSILED BIOMASS FROM WHITE MUSTARD, Sinapis alba, AND ITS POTENTIAL USES.

We investigated some biological peculiarities and the quality of fresh and ensiled biomass from white mustard, Sinapis alba, which was cultivated on the experimental land in the National Botanical Garden (Institute), Chisinau. The fresh mass was mowed in the flowering stage, some assessments of the main biochemical parameters: crude protein (CP), ash (CA), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), total soluble sugars (TSS) have been determined by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique PERTEN DA 7200, the concentration of hemicellulose (HC), cellulose (Cel), digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME), net energy for lactation (NEl) and relative feed value (RFV) were calculated according to standard procedures, the sensorial and chemical characteristics of the prepared silage were determined in accordance with the laboratory standard SM 108. It has been determined that the white mustard fresh mass contained 183-208 g/kg dry matter with 18.3-22.9% CP, 9.2-10.9% CA, 43.9-51.8% NDF, 28.3-34.7% ADF, 4.8-5.6% ADL, 23.5-29.1% Cel, 15.6-17.1% HC, 6.3-8.7% TSS, 63.3-75.9% DMD, 57.3-66.1% DOM, RFV=111-142, 12.22-13.08 MJ/kg DE, 10.03-10.74 MJ/kg ME and 6.04-6.77 MJ/kg NEl. this fact indicates a good quality of the natural feed for ruminants. The white mustard silage was distinguished by homogeneous olive colour, pleasant smell specific of pickled cucumbers with pH = 4.12, it contained 7.4 g/kg acetic acid, 41.8/kg lactic acid, 24.6% CP, 14.1% CA, 41.1% NDF, 28.2% ADF, 2.9% ADL, 25.3 % Cel, 12.9 % HC, 5.3% TSS, 81.7% DMD, 71.3% DOM, RFV=151, 13.11 MJ/kg DE, 10.76 MJ/kg ME and 6.78 MJ/kg NEl. The biochemical methane potential of Sinapis alba substrates reached 295-330 L/kg organic matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]