Chemical Composition and In Vitro Dry Matter and Organic Matter Digestibility of Triticale Forage

Triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) cultivars Council and Morrison were planted in mid-September (early planting) and mid-October (late planting) in 1984 at the Alabama A &: M University-experiment station for studying organic matter digestibility. The plants were harvested at the tillering, milk and dough stages and samples were subjected to proximate analyses and in vitro digestibility tests. A 1,100 lb Hereford steer fitted with a permanent ruminal fistula was used as the rumen fluid donor. In vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) were determined by Moore's modification of the two-stage digestion technique of T illy and T erry (1963). Triticale cultivar Council was comparable to Morrison for phosphorus (P), dry matter (DM), ceil wall content, IVDMD and IVOMD. Crude protein (CP) and ash content were significantly higher for Morrison than for Council , while gross energy (GE) was significantly higher for Council than for Morrison. Both early and late plantings showed similar levels of DM, GE, P and cell wall constituents. However, CP and ash content were higher for early planting than late planting. The tillering stage was consistently higher than the milk or dough stages for CP, ash, P, calcium (Ca), IVDMD and IVOMD. The results indicate that the milk stage was superior to the tillering or dough stages in DM and cell wall content. Results from this study showed no significant differences in digestibilities for two triticale cultivars and planting dates. Based on the higher DM content at the milk stage, it seems that milk stage in triticale would be more acceptable as a forage than the tillering or dough stage.