Cihat YILDIZ, Yücel ERKMEN, İsmail ÖZTÜRK

The effect of harvest period, chopping length and compaction pressure on forage quality of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) silage

T.Öz Yok

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of harvest period, chopping length and compaction pressure on foragö quality of sorghum silage. The cv. snow was used as plant material. Sorghum crop has been harvested both in the milk and dough periods and were chopped within 1 and 4 cm in size then stored in a silo in 60 liter plastic barrels in compaction pressure values of 1, 2 and 3 MPa. At the end Of the fermentation process, chemical analysis of sorghum silage was done and silage fodder quality classes were determined. The prolonged harvest period and increased chopping length has increased dry matter and pH value of silage whereas decreased crude protein content. The increasing compaction pressure has increased dry matter and crude protein content of silages and decreased pH value. Silages obtained at the end of the study were to be found very good quality class according to the Flieg scoring system.

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