Harnessing the In Vitro Nutritional Potential of Different Varieties of Sugarcane Tops Silages Enriched with Molasses and Bacterial Inoculants as an Unconventional Feed Resource

The present study was conducted to explore the nutritional potential of different varieties of sugarcane top silages enriched with molasses or bacterial inoculants as unconventional feed resource. Tops of four sugarcane varieties, i.e., Co 118, CoJ 88, CoPb 93 and CoPb 92, recommended for cultivation in India were collected and evaluated for their chemical composition. Results revealed that tops of sugarcane variety CoPb 93 were lower in crude protein and ether extract content, whereas variety CoPb 92 had lower acid detergent lignin as compared to all tested varieties. Similarly, neutral detergent fiber was lower in variety Co 118 and CoPb 92 as compared to varieties CoJ 88 and CoPb 93. Collected sugarcane tops were ensiled with bacterial inoculants (1 g/ton) and molasses (95:5) for 45 days in low-density polypropylene tubes. The all sugarcane tops varieties with molasses and bacterial inoculants produced good quality silage with pH  4.0% DM and ammonical-N < 10% of total nitrogen. Although molasses-based sugarcane top silages had overall good ensiling potential as compared to bacterial treated silages, overall from the present study, it can be concluded that the molasses-based silages with sugarcane tops variety CoPb 92 followed by variety CoPb 93 have higher potential as unconventional feed resource for livestock.