Recent advances in silage microbiology are reviewed. Most new techniques in silage microbiology use the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to make copies of a portion of the DNA in microorganisms. These techniques allow us to identify and quantify species as well as do community analysis. The PCR-based techniques are uncovering new species, both bacteria and fungi, during storage and feeding. Sila...

The silage specimens on which data are reported were from grass and grass-clover mixtures ensiled during the summer of 1950 on various farms in the northeast of Scotland, and were taken at random from specimens being analysed here. It is seen from Fig. 2 that the lactic acid content of silage falls rapidly with rise ofpH. This is in accordance with the generally held view that in silage of pH g...

This study was conducted to assess the effects of microbial and chemical combo additives on nutritive values, fermentation indices and aerobic stability of whole crop barley silage. Barley forage (Youngyang) was harvested at about 30% dry matter (DM) by treatments, chopped to 5 cm length and treated with distilled water only (CON), Lactobacillus plantarum (INO), propionic acid (PRO) or an equal...

A randomised design involving 66 continental cross beef steers (initial live weight 523 kg) was undertaken to evaluate the effects of the inclusion of maize or whole-crop wheat silages in grass silage-based diets on animal performance, carcass composition, and meat quality of beef cattle. Grass silage was offered either as the sole forage or in addition to either maize or whole-crop wheat silag...

Adapting feeding system is an effective way for improving the nutritional quality of milk as currently intended by dairy industry. The objectives of this work were (1) to characterize milk from feeding systems based on herbage or corn silage with or without flaxseed and (2) to authenticate the milk from the three systems on the basis of the fatty acid (FA) profile. Bulk milk samples were collec...

This study evaluated fermentation characteristics and fungal numbers of napiergrass silages prepared with and without added raw or heated corn meal (10%, fresh-weight basis) at ensiling. Corn was added to napiergrass so that the silage would contain concentrate similar to that of corn silage with minimum grain content. The silages treated with raw or heated corn were fed to dairy does to compar...

Predicting animal performance and relating it to improvements in corn silage quality whether from breeding or management is complex. In numerous studies, differences in fiber and digestibility translate into differences in animal performance. For example, researchers in Idaho have found that high quality corn silage (low fiber and high digestibility) produced $315 more beef per acre than low qu...

A demonstration was conducted to examine the stored forage yield and stored forage quality of two different hay forage management systems. The forage management systems were a hay harvest only system or a complimentary hayround bale silage harvest system. The hay system harvested bermudagrass forage as hay during the summer when weather conditions allowed, the complimentary system harvested ber...

Improving the aerobic stability of silages M ICRO-ORGANISMS involved in the ensiling process include beneficial bacteria (homolactic acid bacteria), detrimental bacteria (for example, clostridia) and unwanted yeasts and moulds. In a good silage pit (or bun), air is eliminated by respiration from the plant and packing, thus preventing the growth of detrimental aerobic microbes. When air is elimi...