Abstract
Corn plant material was ensiled in plastic bags at four stages of maturity ranging from early milk to glaze stage (at approximately 10 days intervals) in 1972, and fed to sheep in digestion trials. All silages were well preserved and range of pH was from 3.7 to 3.8. Dry matter ranged from 15% to 26%. Percent crude protein, crude fiber, ADF and ADL were decreased with increasing maturity. Digestibility of dry matter, carbohydrate and energy were significantly affected by maturity increasing to maximum at milk stage and decreasing slightly thereafter. Increasing maturity significantly decreased digestibility of crude protein, crude fiber and ADF throughout the harvest period. DCP, TDN and DE content in early milk, milk, dough-dent and glaze stage were DCP ; 7.9, 7.0, 6.1 and 5.3%, TDN ; 70.0, 72.8, 73.1 and 69.8%, and DE ; 3.40, 3.60, 3.50 and 3.16 Kcal/g DM, respectively. Nitrogen balance test showed the effects of corn maturity. The nitrogen retension was found to be higher while feeding dough-dent and glaze stage silage.
