DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-093-1-0160

EFFECTS OF ADDING SUGARCANE MOLASSES TO GRASSES FROM STADIUM TURFS AND AGRI-PARKS ON SILAGE FERMENTATION

Nkosi, B. D.¹, Langa, T.¹, Mpanza, T.¹, Kedibone, C.², Mamabolo, J.²

¹ ARC-Animal Production Institute, Irene, South Africa

² Department of Agriculture, Animal Production, 20 Steve Biko road, 001 Pretoria, South Africa

Batches of freshly mowed grasses for 1. Cenchrus clandestnus mixed with perennial ryegrass, collected from a stadium in Limpopo Province, 2. Panicum maximum, collected from agri-park in Kwa Zulu Natal (KZN), 3. Cenchrus clandestnus, collected from a stadium in the Gauteng Province (GP), 4. Dactylis glumerata, collected from an agri-park in Mpumalanga Province (MP), and 5. a mixture of Digitaria eriantha and Cenchrus clandestnus, collected from a stadium in the North West (NW) province of South Africa. The mowed grass was mixed with sugarcane molasses at 5% and ensiled in 210 L drums for 60 days.  Mixing the grass with sugarcane molasses improved (P<0.05) the sugar content of the grass but the terminal pH of the silage was high in most of the silages except for the mixture of Cenchrus clandestnus and perennial ryegrass that had lower (P < 0.05) that resulted in increased lactic acid production. Silage can be produced from grass that are collected from stadiums with the aid of sugarcane molasses, but care should be taken not to ensile grass that was treated with pesticides

Keywords: drums, fermentation, forages, mowing, stadium, provinces

pages: 160-161, Published: 2026, online: 2026