Effect of microbial growth precursor supplementation on chemical composition and fermentation characteristics of palm stem pith silage.

This study investigated the impact of precursor supplementation and incubation time on the quality of palm stem pith silage (nutrient content, in vitro digestibility, and rumen fermentability). A factorial complete randomised design was applied, and the first factor included precursor supplements (D1 - empty bunch ash filtrate, D2 - chicken faeces + urea, D3 - effective microorganism + molasses + urea), while the second factor was incubation periods (B1 - 7 days, B2 - 14 days, B3 - 21 days). Each treatment was replicated 3 times, resulting in 27 experimental units. The results revealed significant main effects of precursor supplementation, incubation time and their interaction on various silage parameters. In particular, a clear interaction (P < 0.01) was observed between precursor supplementation and duration of incubation, indicating significant synergistic effects on nutrient content (dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, crude fibre, extract ether and nitrogen-free extract), digestibility (organic matter and dry matter) and rumen fermentability (NH3 concentration). Specifically, the combination of effective microorganism + molasses + urea supplementation, with a 14-day incubation period, emerged as the most effective strategy for enhancing silage quality. These findings highlight the crucial role of considering treatment interaction factors in optimising silage production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]