Evaluation of Safflower Silage Nutrients and its Effect on Growth Performance of Holstein Bull Calves

Subject Areas : Journal of Animal Biology

Hamidreza Taghian ^{1 *} , بهنام قربانی ² , Mohammad Hosseinabadi ³ , Mahdi Salehi ⁴

1 - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
2 - Department of Animal Science, Gorgan University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources, Golestan, Iran
3 - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
4 - Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary, University of Garmsar, Semnan, Iran

Received: 2024-05-28 Accepted : 2024-10-09 Published : 2025-01-12

Keywords: Beef performance, Forage, Gas production, Safflower, Safflower silage, Silage,

Abstract :

Safflower forage can be considered as a cost-effective alternative to corn silage because as a seasonal plant, it can be cultivated in winter or summer and it can grow in different environmental and soil conditions. Evaluation of the chemical composition and aspect characteristics of silage is necessary to adjust the formulation of rations and also to diagnose problems related to the quality of silage. Research has shown that safflower forage has a range of appropriate nutritional values and can be used as an alternative to other forage sources in ruminant diets. Studies conducted in horses, sheep, lambs, heifers, beef, and dairy cows showed that replacing safflower silage with corn silage maintained production performance. 600 Holstein calves were used for 90 days in a completely randomized design with two treatments and 300 replications for each treatment. The experimental groups included 1-basal diet containing corn silage, and 2- basal diet containing safflower silage. In this research, the amount of nutrients in safflower silage and then the performance of the animals were evaluated. No significant difference was observed in average daily gain, average final weight, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio between calves fed with safflower silage diet compared to corn silage diet. In general, the results of this research showed that safflower is a forage containing valuable nutrients and if it is replaced with corn silage in the diet of bull calves, maximum growth potential can be achieved.

 

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