Recent information on nutritive values of maize silage and its importance in beef cattle feeding

Abstract

The study presents the latest scientific accomplishments in selection of silage hybrids with a special regard to digestibility as a quality parameter of the maize plant. The most important quality parameters, necessary in silage maize hybrid selection with the aim of completely defining their nutritive values, are presented in the case of the most demanded MRI hybrids of all maturity groups and encompass the following: the whole plant DM yield, the share of ears in DM yield, NDF, ADF and ADL content, and especially in vitro DM digestibility according to the Tilley and Terry method. Hybrids can be compared by the use of the exact values for the stated criteria and at the same time it is possible to make actual recommendations for certain production. The importance of the whole maize plant silage is manifested in beef cattle feeding, as the use of 3-12 kg silage day-1 with the appropriate feed concentrate significantly contributes to the more economic production of beef for which the demand in our country is realistic.

Keywords

• maize hybrids
• silage
• digestibility
• beef cattle