Abstract #W357

# W357
Effects of corn treated with foliar fungicide at various times of application on in situ ruminal digestibility of corn silage in Holstein cows.
Katie J. Haerr*1, Naina M. Lopes2, Japheth D. Weems1, Carl A. Bradley1, Marcos N. Pereira2, Michael R. Murphy1, Gary M. Fellows3, Felipe C. Cardoso1, 1University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 2Universidade Federal De Lavras, Lavras, MG, Brazil, 3B.A.S.F. Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC.

The main objective was to explore the associations of corn plant foliar fungicide application on harvested whole-plant corn silage digestibility. Treatments were control (CON), corn received no foliar fungicide application; treatment 1 (1×), corn received one application of pyraclostrobin foliar fungicide (PYR; Headline; BASF Corp. Florham Park, New Jersey) at corn stage V5; treatment 2 (2×), corn received 2 applications of foliar fungicides, PYR at corn stage V5, and a mixture of pyraclostrobin and metconazole (PYR+MET; Headline AMP; BASF Corp. Florham Park, New Jersey) at corn stage R1; and treatment 3 (3×), corn received 3 applications of foliar fungicides, PYR at corn stage V5, PYR+MET at corn stage R1, and PYR+MET at corn stage R3. Corn was harvested at the same time and ensiled for 7 mo. Three cannulated lactating multiparous Holstein cows (376 ± 28 DIM) were used to measure corn silage in situ digestibility. Dried unground corn silage was put into 288 (3 time points/treatment/cow) 10 × 20 cm bags and incubated for 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 48, 72 or 96 h. A sample of unground undried corn silage was also placed into a 20 × 40 cm bag and incubated for 48 h. The degradable portion of DM was greater (P = 0.01) for corn silages treated with fungicide when compared with CON (0.36, 0.42, 0.40 and 0.47 for CON, 1×, 2×, and 3×, respectively). There was a linear (P < 0.001) effect of treatment frequency on the proportion of DM digestibility. The 2 different sizes of bags used (10 × 20 vs. 20 × 40 cm) for the in situ digestibility technique were different (P < 0.02) for DM, NDF, ADF, CP, and starch for 48h digestibility. Larger bags had greater (P < 0.03) digestibility for DM (33, 35%), and lower digestibility for NDF (42, 35%), and ADF (47, 39%), than smaller bags. In conclusion, corn silage with fungicide application had higher DM digestibility and a trend for a lower rate of digestion as well as linear effects for decreasing DM solubility, increasing DM degradability, and decreasing rate of DM digestion.

Key Words: in situ digestibility, corn silage, fungicide