Nutritive value of maize silage
1996
Daccord, R. | Arrigo, Y. | Vogel, R. (Station federale de recherches sur la production animale (RAP), Posieux (Switzerland))
In spite of its large production and utilisation, maize silage remains a feed whose nutritive value is diffult to assess. Especially its energy value cannot be precisely evaluated with conventional chemical analyses. The variations in crude fibre or in ADF can but partially explain the variations in the digestibility of organic matter, which serves as a basis for the calculation of the energy value. The chemical analysis of maize silage is necessary only in cases of suboptimal harvest conditions (late harvest, bad development). According to development and variety, maize silages with the same digestible organic matter content (DOM) can have very different proportions of grains. For the high yielding dairy cow, a DOM content of about 730 g/kg dry matter (DM) and a grain proportion of about 45 % in the DM of the whole plant seem to be close to the optimum. In cattle fattening a higher DOM content due to a larger proportion of grains is desirable. The maize plant provides a silage with a high energy value if harvesting and ensiling as well as protein and mineral supplement were done under the best conditions. Still too often maize silage is a mixture of lignified stalks, leaves, and grains. It is important to harvest maize in its optimal stage, i.e. wax ripe to yellow ripe, when the plant has a dry matter content of 30 to 35 %. In our conditions this stage represents the best compromise between yield, conservation quality, and intake
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