Effects of Urea, Molasses and Fibrolytic Enzymes on Nutritional Value of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) Leaves Silage

Aims: This research was conducted to study changes of chemical composition and digestibility parameters of date palm leaves silage by adding urea, molasses and Fibrolytic Enzymes.
Study Design: The experimental treatments were: date palm leaves silage without additive (T1), date palm leaves silage with 4% of urea (T2), date palm leaves silage with 10% of molasses (T3), date palm leaves silage with 3 g of enzyme mix (T4), date palm leaves silage with 4% of urea and 10% of molasses (T5), date palm leaves silage with 4% of urea and 3 g of enzyme mix (T6), date palm leaves silage with 10% of molasses and 3 g of enzyme mix (T7), date palm leaves silage with 4% of urea, 10% of molasses and 3g of enzyme mix (T8). Results of chemical compounds were analyzed using complete randomized design (CRD) the data were analyzed using the GLM procedure SAS, (2000). Duncan's multiple range tests (p = 0.05) were used to determine statistical difference between treatment means.
Place and Duration of Study: Sample: Department of Animal Science, Zabol university, between October 2009 and July 2010.
Methodology: In order to study changes of chemical composition, first, 50 kg of date palm leaves was collected and then crushed into 1-3 cm pieces for silage. Then, it was stored in plastic buckets by 4% of urea, 3 g of enzyme mixture and 10% of molasses.
Results: The results showed that treatment 2 had the highest amount of crude protein (CP) and treatment 1 had the least amount of CP with a significant difference (p<0.05). Treatment 5 had the least amount of Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) and Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF) and treatment 1 had the highest ADF and NDF (p <0.05). Also, the studied treatments showed significant difference in degradability at different incubation times (p<0.05) so that treatments 5 and 8 demonstrated the highest degradability and treatment 1 showed the lowest degradability.
Conclusion: In general, considering information and results obtained from chemical composition, degradability and digestibility of the studied treatments, it could be concluded that silage with treatments 8 and 5 had better results compared with other treatments.