An economic analysis of the cost structure of sorghum silage production

Abstract

The present research “Enrichment of sorghum silage using jaggery and mineral mixture” was conducted at Livestock Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy science, College of Agriculture, Latur during the year 2022-2023. Total twelve treatments were studied namely T0 - Control (CSH22SS), T1- 2% Jaggery + CSH22SS, T2 - 2% mineral mixture + CSH22SS, T3 - 2% whey + CSH22SS, T4 - Control (Dagdi Jowar), T5-2% Jaggery + Dagdi Jowar, T6 - 2% mineral mixture + Dagdi Jowar, T7 - 2% whey + Dagdi Jowar, T8 - Control (Phule Suchitra), T9 - 2% Jaggery + Phule Suchitra, T10 - 2% mineral mixture + Phule Suchitra, T11- 2% whey + Phule Suchitra respectively. The fodder crop were chaffed into small pieces preferably 2-4 cm length using a chaff cutter. The bags were packed in such a way that neither air enters into the bags nor the gas comes out from the bags. To improve the nutritional quality of ensiling materials (2%) Mineral mixture was evenly sprinkled and thoroughly mixed over the chopped fodders in all treatments. Jaggery (2%) was diluted with water in a 2:1 ratio for easy application. While, whey (2%) was added as an inoculant to improve the fermentation quality. The total cost of silage production for CSH22SS was Rs. 1932 (Rs. 1.93/Kg), Dagdi Jowar was Rs. 1872 (Rs. 1.87/Kg) and for Phule Suchitra it was recorded as Rs. 1912 (Rs. 1.91/Kg). Dagdi Jowar silage recorded the lowest cost (1.87/Kg). while, CSH22SS sorghum silage showed the highest cost (1.93/Kg) and the cost of Phule Suchitra silage (Rs. 1.91/Kg) was found to be intermediate between the two variety silage. Overall, the average cost of silage preparation was about Rs 1.90/kg.