Characteristics of Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and Nipah (Nypa fruticans) silages

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the chemical characteristics of silages 
produced from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) fronds (OPF) and nipah (Nypa fruticans) fronds 
(NF). Fresh fronds were chopped mechanically and packed separately in tightly closed 
containers, and left in the shed for various time intervals. Chemical analyses showed that 
fresh OPF had significantly (P<0.05) higher dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber 
(NDF), but significantly (P<0.05) lower ash, lignin, soluble  sugars  and  buffering  capacity 
than that of NF. The crude 
protein (CP) content 0 ffresh fronds were similar, in the range of 4.7-5.3 %. However, after 
ensiling for 90 days, the CP content of OPF silage was significantly (P<0.05) higher (6.8 
%) than that of NF silage (%4.0). On day 30 and 90, OPF silage showed lower pH (4.1 and 
4.3, respectively) than NF silage (4.8 and 4.6, respectively). At both incubation periods,