Table 3.

Rumen fermentation characteristics in dairy cows fed with three experimental forage-based diets (n = 6)

	Dietary treatmentsa				P-value
Item	AH	CS	RS	SEM	AH vs. CS	AH vs. RS	CS vs. RS
pH	6.39	6.41	6.39	0.050	0.89	0.98	0.85
Ammonia-N, mg/dL	14.5	15.8	20.3	1.07	0.37	0.01	0.04
Total VFA, mM	93.5	81.0	83.1	2.83	0.04	0.02	0.63
Acetate, mM	66.2	57.1	59.8	1.99	0.03	0.02	0.20
Propionate, mM	19.4	17.2	17.1	0.75	0.14	0.07	0.95
Butyrate, mM	7.90	8.64	6.18	0.483	0.13	0.09	0.02
Molar proportion, %
Acetate	71.1	70.3	72.2	0.89	0.03	0.40	0.02
Propionate	20.7	21.4	20.5	0.55	0.51	0.80	0.36
Butyrate	8.29	10.9	7.34	0.556	<0.01	0.27	0.02
Acetate: Propionate	3.47	3.24	3.60	0.108	0.23	0.45	0.07

^aAH = Total mixed ration (TMR) containing alfalfa hay as the main forage; CS = TMR containing corn stover as the main forage; RS = TMR containing rice straw as the main forage