Yearly variation in maize silage fermentation and nutritive quality

Abstract

A significant effect of year on maize nutritive value has been reported in many studies; however, the direct effect of year on both nutritive values and fermentation traits of maize silage has not been directly investigated. During a 7‐year period (2006–2012), we investigated the following variables of 597 maize silages commercially produced in bunker silos on farms in the Czech Republic: dry‐matter content (DM), crude protein (CP), starch, amylase‐treated neutral detergent fibre (aNDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and net energy lactation (NEL), as well as fermentation traits such as pH, contents of lactic acid (LA), acetic acid (AA), butyric acid (BA) and the ratio between LA and volatile fatty acids. The effect of year and DM explained 16 and 30% of the variability in nutritive and fermentation traits respectively. Although a common silage DM content was used for each year, the climatic effect of year significantly changed almost all tested variables, but particularly aNDF, ADF, starch, AA and BA. The year contribution to trait variability effect was as much as two times higher for fermentation traits (12·6%) as for nutritive value (6·1%). Temperature–precipitation relationships associated with achieved maize yield were considered as factors explaining the year effect. Temperature and precipitation averaged over the full vegetation period had low relevance to nutritive and fermentation traits. This study reveals the importance of year‐to‐year variation in silage nutritive value and fermentation, which could be useful for understanding the contribution of year to these changes in both field experiments and national assessments.

Ensilage of oats and wheatgrass under natural alpine climatic conditions by indigenous lactic acid bacteria species isolated from high-cold areas

“…The decisive factor affecting the silage nutritive value is the harvesting stage, and the fermentation process was reported to only have a slight impact on the nutritive value of maize silage [ 32 ]; this conclusion was verified partly in this study. The effects of different additives on the protein contents of silages were not significant; the fermentation time affected the dry matter significantly, the dry matter decreased with the fermentation time increased.…”

Ensiling alfalfa with whole crop corn improves the silage quality and in vitro digestibility of the silage mixtures

“…Corn ( Zea mays L.) is considered to have consistent nutritional qualities and a high energy value, and it is relatively easy to grow and conserve (Loucka et al . ). It is the most popular cereal crop conserved as silage in many parts of the world (McDonald et al .…”

“…Wen et al (2011) found high quality silage was obtained by ensiling alfalfa with Italian ryegrass, and the optimal ratio of alfalfa to Italian ryegrass was 7:3. Corn (Zea mays L.) is considered to have consistent nutritional qualities and a high energy value, and it is relatively easy to grow and conserve (Loucka et al 2014). It is the most popular cereal crop conserved as silage in many parts of the world (McDonald et al 1991) due to its relatively high DM content, low buffering capacity and high WSC for fermentation to lactic acid, which is responsible for the reduction of pH to the required level (Meeske and Basson 1998).…”

Chemical composition and in situ degradability of silages from dual-purpose sorghum hybrids

“…According to Goeser et al (2015), the DM losses in the fodder occur in the fermentation processes and even at silo opening; therefore, as the pH and DM content are strongly related, fodder with low DM contents (between 300 and 350 g kg -1 ) should be avoided for ensilage. In addition, plant silage with optimal DM content contributes to reduced concentrations of mycotoxins (LOUČKA et al, 2014;SCHMIDT et al, 2015).…”