Variations among the Windrows and Crop Fields in the Contents of Low Moisture Round Bale Silages

Abstract

In order to evaluate variations in the quality of low moisture round bale silage prepared from each crop field, the suitable sampling number of bale were investigated with the simple random sampling on round bale silages. Variations in the quality of wilted grasses among the samplings was also examined. Two crop fields were tested. The mean concentrations of moisture, CP and ADF in silages cultivated from the field A and B were 56, 15 and 41% and 34, 8 and 38%, respectively. The results were as follows : 1. The contents of moisture, CP and ADF of wilted grasses were variable within each windrow and among the windrows. This suggested that the chemical analysis of original or wilted grasses do not accurately evaluate the quality of ensiled material. 2. The suitable sampling numbers of bales were found. The number of bale was the same for both fields when moisture and ADF contents were used for indices of the quality. In contrast, the variance of the CP content in the silages was significantly different between the crop fields.