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Storage Losses in Silage as Affected by Moisture Content and Structure

Animal Husbandry Research Division, USDA Beltsville, Maryland

ABSTRACT

Ensiling is basically a method of crop preservation. Effects on digestibility, palatability and intake potential, and losses of nutrient constituents are each important and of interest in evaluating any ensiling procedure. This discussion, however, will be confined primarily to the quantitative losses of nutrient constituents. The extent of loss of any nutrient is of interest and most constituents, i.e., dry matter, proximate constituents, carotene, and sugar have been measured under some conditions. Even wet weight loss, which has no direct nutritional significance, frequently has been measured. Comparisons of per cent composition in stored and removed silages are easily obtained, but of little value in expressing actual quantitative loss. The amount of dry matter lost during ensiling is frequently cited as a single indicator of ensiling losses, since it is positively correlated with losses of dry matter constituents. While the extent of loss among various fractions is by no means equal or constantly related (30), for the sake of brevity in this discussion losses will be described in terms of dry matter.