CHANGE IN YIELD AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF HERBAGE AND SILAGE OF ACCORDING TO GROWTH STAGES OF Phragmites australis GROWN IN SALINE DRAINAGE CHANNELS

Phragmites australis remained inactive in saline drainage channels has been seen as an important potential to reduce the roughage deficit needed in animal nutrition. For this purpose, some yield, fermantation, chemical and nutritional characteristics of its herbage and silage obtained from the end of the vegetative stage (EVS), the beginning of panicle (BP) and the full panicle stage (FPS) were determined. The study was carried out in Igdir, located in the North-East of Turkey, in 2021-2022. The results showed that the forage yield characteristics increased as the development period progressed. High lactic acid and low pH, acetic, propionic and butyric acid contents desired in silo feeds were obtained from the cuttings at FPS. In addition, ammonia production was low in silages at BP and FPS, but high the fleig score. It was observed that the dry matter digestibility, metabolic energy and relative feed value were higher while dry matter ratio, crude protein, acid detergent fibre and raw ash content of herbage according to silage were lower. The desired chemical and nutritional values in both herbage and silage were determined at the most suitable BP. As a result, it was determined that the Common reed was appropriate to harvest in FPS for a silo feed with high yield and fermentation properties. In addition, it was concluded that the herbage and silage harvested at BP produced a higher quality feed material in terms of nutritional and chemical composition, respectively.