The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is sparsely populated and has vast grassland, which plays an important role in the development of animal husbandry. However, during the forage cutting season, frequent rainfall and low temperatures are consistently experienced, which makes it extremely difficult to produce quality hay. The best way to process hay is to produce silages. In this experiment, dry matter yield and silage fermentation quality of dominant annual forages, namely triticale, rye and oat, with Sila-Max and Sila-Mix lactic acid bacteria additives at the five cutting stages, i.e., heading, flowering, grouting, milky and dough stages, were determined. Triticale at the dough stage had the highest dry matter yield among the three forages at the five cutting stages. The optimum harvesting time for triticale, rye and oat to produce quality silage in the Qinghai–Tibet alpine area was the milky stage. Sila-Max lactic acid bacteria additives could significantly improve the fermentation qualities of triticale, rye and oat silages, but the fermentation effect of Sila-Mix on the three silages was not significant. The triticale variety ‘Gannong No.2’ is the best raw material to produce quality silages in the Qinghai–Tibet alpine area. Overall, quality silage could be made in the Qinghai–Tibet alpine area while using the triticale variety ‘Gannong No.2’ as the raw material, cutting it at the milky stage and adding Sila-Max as the lactic acid bacteria additive.
Background Triticale (×Triticosecale Wittmack L.), rye (Secale cereale L.), and oat (Avena sativa L.) are the main forage crops on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, but there has been relatively little research on the silage produced from these three species. Methods Plants were harvested at the heading, flowering, grouting, milky, and dough stages and then used to produce silage with and without additives (Sila-Max and Sila-Mix). The nutritional quality of the resulting silages was analyzed. Results Triticale was revealed to be more suitable than oat or rye for producing silage on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. On the basis of the dry matter yield (DMY), triticale and rye should be harvested at the milky stage to optimize silage quality, whereas oat should be harvested at the dough stage. The lactic acid bacteria additives Sila-Max and Sila-Mix had no significant effect on the nutritional quality of the three silages regardless of when the samples were harvested. Overall, triticale produced higher quality silage than oat or rye. More specifically, triticale variety ‘Gannong No.2’ harvested at the milky stage is ideal for silage production.
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