Abstract:
the experiment was conducted to study the effect of Effective Microorganisms (EM) on the nutritive quality of coffee husk sil ages.
Eight treatment silages were produced by ensiling chopped grass hay in combination with 10, 20, 30 and 100% of dry processed coffee husk
with and without the use of EM as biological inoculants. The nutritive quality of the treatments silage was evaluated on the basis of
fermentation characteristics, chemical composition and in-vitro dry matter digestibility. The results obtained showed that the best silages
were prepared by ensiling pure coffee husk and chopped grass hay in combination with 30% coffee husk with the use of EM as me asured by
visual appraisal and pH value. The pH value (4.2) obtained from the treatment silage contai ning 100% coffee husk with the inoculation of EM
is significantly lower (P< 0.001) than that of all the others and similar to the acidity limit recommended for good quality s ilage. According to
the results of the laboratory chemical analysis, there was significant improvement in the total ash, ether extract(EE) and crude protein(CP)
content of pure coffee husk ensiled with the use of EM. The EE and CP content of the 100% coffee husk tended to decrease whe n it ensiled
with grass hay. On the contrary, there was significant (P<0.001) decrease in cell wall (NDF, ADF and hemicelluloses) content of pure coffee
husk ensiled with the use of EM as biological inoculants’. The results obtained also showed that there was significant reduct ion (P<0.001) in
the anti-nutritional factors content (lignin, caffeine and condensed tannin) of pure coffee husk ensiled with the use of EM. Moreover ther e
was significant improvement (P<0.001) in in-vitro dry matter digestibility of coffee husk ensiled with the EM. From the result its shows clearly
that there was substantial improvement on nutritive quality of coffee husk when treated withEM. However, the output of the current result on
the performance of the animal seems to be the future direction of intensive research.
