Influence of wilting time on silage compositional quality and microbiology

Abstract

Wilting grass before ensiling has become a firmly established practice, since it provides economic advantages due to the increment of the dry matter content of the forage before ensiling. Most forage crops contain less than 20 per cent of dry matter when they are cut thus reduction of the weight of crop to be transported provides advantages (Gordon et al., 1999). Also, research has shown that such practices yield improved and reduced effluent loss from the silo and higher feeding value of the silage. Wilting of grass prior to ensiling has been widely adopted as a means of reducing effluents produced and improving the fermentation quality of silage. The aim of this research was to assess the effect of differing wilting periods and silage moisture levels of silage quality and microbial growth levels.