QUALITY OF WHOLE-PLANT CORN SILAGE ON FAMILY FARMS

Abstract

Whole-plant corn silage is a starting point for economical and modern animal husbandry. It is a quality green feed replacement and the most important cattle feed. The quality of whole-plant corn silage is of great importance in milk production. Continuous monitoring of silage quality is an important part of feeding programmes. The aim of this study was to use chemical and microbiological analyses to determine the quality of whole-plant corn silage produced on family farms. The analysed samples contained, on average, 66.37% moisture (58.79-72.01%), 33.63% dry matter (27.99-41.21%), 2.07% crude protein (1.07-3.06%), 1.26% crude fat (0.72 -1.84%) and 8.09% crude cellulose (5.72-9.98%). The average pH value, taken as an indicator of the quality of fermentation, was 3.90 (3.50-4.16). Total volatile fatty acid comprised 1.87% (0.67-2.47%) lactic acid, 0.68% acetic acid (12.20-1.52%) and 0.02% (0-0.27%) butyric acid. The average proportions of lactic, acetic and butyric acids in the silage were 72.80% (33.3-88.81%), 26.45% (9.35-66.67%) and 0.75% (0-10.16%). The authors determined silage quality using the Flieg score. The samples from 12 farms were graded as very good, while the silage from the other farms was evaluated as good (4 farms) and satisfactory (2 farms). The analysis of microbiological quality showed that the samples on average contained 405,556 (10,000-3,000,000) of silage bacteria and 7,000 (0-80,000) of mould. Sulphate-reducing Clostridia and Salmonella were not identified. The samples matched quality requirements prescribed by the rulebook.