Maize for silage: I. Conservation of whole maize plant for silage with treatment of preservatives and urea before ensiling

Abstract

Maize was harvested with a precision chopper and ensiled in five plastic tower silos, 1 500 kg fodder/silo. The silages and the ensiling methods were: 0.5 % urea per fresh weight (A), 1.0 % urea per fresh weight + Viher-acid 4 1/1000 kg of silage (B), 0.5 % urea per fresh weight + Viher-acid 4 1/1000 kg of silage (C). Viher-acid 4 1/1000 kg of silage (D) and silage without urea or preservatives (E). The dry matter content of the whole maize was 21 % and the crude protein content was 10.8 % in DM. The addition of urea increased the crude protein (N x 6.25) content in A- and C-silages to 17.7 percent and in B-silage to 24.9 percent. The quality of the silages was good, and some marks of butyric acid was found only in the silage ensiled without Viher-acid or urea. The addition of Viher-acid lowered the fermentation rate so that the sugar content of the corresponding silages was higher. The sugar content was higher (P 0.05) and Viher-acid. This was due to the larger effluent amount from the silo. The fermentation losses of dry matter were smallest in the silage D (3.9 %) and highest in the silage E (11.6 %) (P < 0.05). The losses in A-, B- and C-silages were 7.6 %, 4.7 % and 9.2 %, respectively. The use of urea decreased the fermentation losses.