Digestibility of Chopped oat Silage Preserved with Zinc Bacitracin Fed to Cattle and Sheep

sulv[ lYIARY Chopped oat silage preserved with Silotracin (zinc bacitracin) was compared to a control oat silage without a preservative in a conventional total collection type digestion trial using both cattle and sheep. The percentage dry matter, protein, nitrogen-free extract, and ash content were higher in the Silotracin-treated silage than in the control silage, whereas the percentage of ether extract, crude fiber, and calories of gross energy content was lower. The Silotracin-treated oat silage contained 12% more crude protein and 11% less crude fiber than the untreated silage. Protein digestibility was significantly greater (P < 0.01) for the Silotracin-treated oat silage than for the control. Although there were no other statistically significant treatment differences in digestibility, there were increases in all digestion coefficients for the Silotracin-treated oat silage.