Severity of rolling reconstituted high-moisture barley on ensiling characteristics and in vitro ruminal fermentation

ABSTRACT: Barley grain sources with variable kernel sizes makes adequate and consistent processing of kernels challenging. This study evaluated how the severity of processing for reconstituted high-moisture (65% on DM basis) barley (RHB) affects ensiling characteristics and in vitro ruminal fermentation. Three independent sources of light (670 g/500 mL) barley were blended to create 4 sources of variable kernel sized barley (646 g/500 mL). Reconstituted high-moisture barley rolled using a 1.40-mm gap width for finely processed RHB (RHBF), a 1.86-mm gap width for medium processed RHB (RHBM), or a 2.31-mm gap width for coarsely processed RHB (RHBC) was ensiled for 1 or 5 mo with dry rolled barley (DRB; roller gap width 1.86 mm) used as a control. The 1-mo RHB and the DRB were further evaluated using the rumen in vitro simulation technique (RUSITEC) to investigate the effects of severity of processing for RHB on ruminal fermentation, and gas, methane, and microbial protein production. Using a randomized complete block design (n = 4), 16 fermenters from 2 RUSITEC apparatuses were used to assess the 4 sources and 4 processing treatments. The addition of water increased kernel width before rolling and resulted in increased kernel length, width, and thickness for RHB relative to DRB. Increasing processing severity for RHB linearly increased kernel width. The percentage of fine particles (