Characteristics of baled silage made from first and second harvests of wilted and severely wilted forages

Abstract

First and second harvests of lucerne (Medicago sativa L.), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and a lucerneperennial ryegrass mixture [80 or 144 g kg )1 dry matter (DM) of ryegrass] at the first and second harvests were cut and conditioned, wilted to 500 or 700 g DM kg )1 then baled and stretch-wrapped for silage on the same dates. Lucerne bales were denser (411 kg m )3 ) than bales of perennial ryegrass (331 kg m )3 ) (P < 0AE05). After an 8-month storage period, silage made from high DM-content forage had a higher concentration of neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) and was less digestible than that made from low DM-content forage. Daily DM intakes by beef steers, when the silages of the second harvest were fed ad libitum, were 31AE2, 31AE2 and 22AE3 g kg )1 live weight for lucerne, lucerne-perennial ryegrass mixture and perennial ryegrass silages, respectively (P < 0AE01), when the herbage had been wilted to 500 g kg )1 . In vivo digestibility of NDF in the lucerneperennial ryegrass mixture silage (0AE587) was significantly lower than that of perennial ryegrass silage (0AE763) but higher than lucerne silage (0AE518). Higher intakes of baled lucerne silage tended to offset its lower digestibility values. Lucerne-perennial ryegrass mixture silage had a higher DM and NDF digestibility than lucerne silage, indicating perhaps the presence of associative effects.

Efecto de la especie de leguminosa y la fuente de carbohidratos en la calidad física y química de mezclas para ensilaje

“…Las diferencias en cuanto a la especie de leguminosa provienen de la cantidad de humedad presente en el material forrajero, de hecho, en esta investigación se determinaron correlaciones medias y altas entre el contenido de humedad del forraje y la concentración de los ácidos orgánicos en el ensilado, así, el ácido acético, el ácido butírico y el ácido propiónico presentaron correlaciones de Pearson positivas ρ=0,70, ρ=0,62 y ρ=0,65, respectivamente, mientras que el ácido láctico presentó correlación de Pearson ρ=-0,74, esto concuerda con los hallazgos de otras investigaciones donde se recomienda que los forrajes altos en humedad deben recibir un proceso de pérdida de agua antes del proceso de ensilaje (Muck y Shinners, 2001;Han et al, 2006).…”

Detection, identification, and typing of Listeria species from baled silages fed to dairy cows

“…Among the various silage conservation methods, wrapped bales are commonly used in Europe to preserve the quality of forage from meadows (Wilkinson and Toivonen, 2003;McEniry et al, 2007) and are gaining popularity in the United States in the last decade (Han et al, 2006;Arriola et al, 2015). Baled silage is often made from herbage that is wilted more extensively and presented more limited fermentation than conventional bunker silo silage, as it reduces the number of bales per hectare, plastic consumption, and costs, and can be more convenient when fed to animals (Han et al, 2006;McEniry et al, 2007;Tabacco et al, 2013). Unfortunately, the increased DM content also tends to increase fungal growth in wrapped forages (O'Brien et al, 2008;Tabacco et al, 2013), thus increasing hygienic issues as well as the risk of mycotoxicosis (O'Brien et al, 2007) and Listeria contamination (Fenlon et al, 1989).…”

The effect of bale density and addition of formic acid on the <i>in situ</i> dry matter and crude protein degradation of lucerne, red clover and red fescue silages

“…Thus, the technology of bale silage production should be further improved, including the use of high-efficiency balers to allow for higher compression and better anaerobic conditions in bales. Other authors (Han et al, 2006) investigated the effect of bale density on carbohydrate fermentation and baled silage storage, but they did not analyse the correlation between bale density and proteolysis rate. According to Slottner and Bertilsson (2006), an increase in DM content and the use of chemical and biological additives reduce the rate of proteolysis during ensiling, while proteolysis is not affected by the ensiling method (cylindrical bales vs horizontal silos).…”