Suitable indices and sampling sites for evaluating quality of low moisture wrapped bound bale silage

To standardize the criteria of forge quality of commercialized wrapped round-bale silage with containing low moisture content, fermentation profiles, indigestible intake protein and gross chemical composition were investigated on round-bale silages of timothy and alfalfa. Variations in forage evaluation among sampling sites of baled silages were also examined to qualify the representative collection. The forage plants examined were harvested at three different growth stages; early, optimum and late cutting of the first harvest, and were milted to 30-50% of moisture content in crop fields. (1) The mean concentrations of lactic, acetic and butyric acids in the wrapped bale silages produced were very low at 0.65, 0.30 and 0.04%, respectively. The mean pH values of 5.48+-0.22 also showed poor fermentation of the silages, suggesting that these fermentation profiles were not appropriate for standardizing the quality evaluation of the wrapped round-bale silages with low moisture content. The indigestible intake protein, thought to be increased by heat damage during the storage, was not different between the original fresh crops and the corresponding silages. The contents of moisture, protein (CP) acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), as already extensively used for evaluating nutritive value, appeared to be useful and simple induce to standardize the forage evaluation of those silages. (2) Effect of sampling site on variations of the contents of moisture, CP, ADF and NDF was investigated on twelve wrapped round-bale silages with varying forage crops, growth stages and wrapping film color. Among 21 points plotted equally in the wrapped round-bale silage, the sampling block of 30 cm (from the top) x 20 cm (from the north and east side edges) was the best representative of showing the quality of the whole bale