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. 2025 Jun 17;57(6):277.
doi: 10.1007/s11250-025-04500-w.

Mixed cereal silage as a forage complement to Kikuyu grass grazing for small-scale dairy systems in the dry season

Sirley Carrillo-Hernández  1 , José Velarde-Guillén  1 , Felipe López-González  1 , Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán  2
Affiliations

Mixed cereal silage as a forage complement to Kikuyu grass grazing for small-scale dairy systems in the dry season

Sirley Carrillo-Hernández et al. Trop Anim Health Prod. .

Abstract

Small scale dairy systems (SSDS) require feeding alternatives that increase their productivity with low environmental impact and economically viable. The objective of this work was to compare maize silage (T1) with silages from small-grain cereal mixtures (SGCM): rye plus barley (T2) and rye plus triticale (T3) as a complement to grazing Kikuyu grass (Cenchrus clandestinus) in the dry season. Nine mid lactation Holstein cows 500 ± 54.8 kg live weight (LW), 160 ± 74.6 days in milk and daily milk yield (MY) of 13.6 ± 3.37 kg were evaluated under a repeated 3 × 3 Latin square design with 12 day periods. The agronomic variables of the pasture, the productive response of the animals, the composition of feeds and estimated methane emissions were considered. T3 presented higher crude protein (CP) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) contents (P < 0.05) and T1 had higher in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and estimated metabolizable energy (eME) content (P < 0.05). Gross energy lost as methane was less with maize silage (P < 0.05). There were no differences (P > 0.05) in animal variables, total matter intake and methane emissions between treatments. The inclusion of silage from SGCM can be considered a feasible alternative to supplement grazing of cows in advanced lactation for SSDS of the central Mexican highlands during the dry season.

Keywords: Cenchrus clandestinus; Hordeum vulgare; Secale cereale; Silage; Triticosecale; Grazing; Methane emission.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval: Experimental procedures with dairy cows and work with the collaborating farmer followed guidelines accepted and institutionally approved by the Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Rurales (ICAR) of Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (DICARM-1322). Consent to participate: Work herein reported was carried out by an on-farm experiment with a collaborating farmer, who was aware of the objectives of the work, was duly informed, consulted and his decisions respected at all times, actively participated in the experiment, and his privacy and that of his family respected by not disclosing their names. The collaborating farmer signed a letter of informed consent to participate in the experiment. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Conflicts of interest: Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordan is Associate Editor of Tropical Animal Health and Production. The other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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