We investigated the fermentation quality of whole-crop wheat. The wheat was harvested three times during the period from the early stage of the milk state to the dough stage. As the wheat ripened, both the dry matter yield and content significantly increased. For each ripening stage, the wheat was ensiled in round bale by inoculation with lactic acid bacteria. All of the wheat silage contained a high amount of lactic acid and a low amount of acetic acid. At the dough stage, the wheat was also ensiled with two different round balers, a combine-type harvester and a flail-chopper-type harvester, without inoculation with lactic acid bacteria. The quality of the wheat silage prepared with the combine-type harvester contained butyric acid, whereas the wheat silage prepared with the flail-chopper-type harvester contained no butyric acid.
