SILAGE

Introduction
 Rainfall seasonal
 Plenty of grass available monsoon - not properly
utilized
 Surplus stock of fodder - accumulated season used
feeding
 Ideal and simple method of conserving – silage and
hay
 Why Conservation of fodder?
 To preserve feed when it is available in
excess.
 To maintain optimum nutritional value of
fodder
 To shift available feed from the present to the
future.
 To move feed from one location to another
location.
 To assist pasture management
Major preservation methods
 Silage
 Hay
 Silage
 Fermented feed
 S to ra ge of h ig h m oi st ur e cro p s (g re en
forages)
 Anaerobic conditions
 Structure for silage preparation – silo
 DM- 25-40%
Advantages
Ø Year round
Ø Fodder preserved succulent stage for any
length of time
Ø Grass silage preserves 85 % or more of the
feed value of the crop
Ø During and immediately after monsoon,
abundant grass available
 The organic acids produced in the silage are
similar to those normally produced in the
digestive tract of the ruminants and
therefore are used in the same manner
 Weeds do not make good hay
 Weeds ensiled supply nutritious feed &
palatable feed
 Good source protein & certain vitamins,
carotene
 With early removal kharif crops from fields for
silage purpose so enough time for preparing
land for sowing following rabi crop
 Less storage space than hay
 Crops Suitable for Silage Making
 Crops rich in soluble sugars-
 High level of maize/jowar/bajra
fermentable  Cultivated and natural grasses
sugar wit h ad d itio n o f mol as s es @
 Low level of 3-3.5%
protein  Mixture of grasses/cereal fodder
 Low bufferi ng and Legumes @ 3:1
capacity  Unwilted leguminous leafy
fodders and dry fodder @ 4:1
Methods of Silage Making
 Preparation of Silo
 Preparation of Forage
 Filling of Silo
 Incubation
 Opening the silo
 Removal of Silage
1. Types of Silo
 Tower silo
 Conventional upright silo
 Round, cylindrical and above ground level
 Height & diameter 6 to 10 m
 Three types of silage are found
Ø lower most 1/3rd over-compressed, sour &
smell of butyric acid.
Ø Centre - good, not too tightly packed & get
compressed well
Ø Top 1/3rd dark & overheated, near the
surface - low value - mould
 Very expensive in construction, filling and
emptying
 Dry heat places - silage dehydrated
TOWER SILOS
 Pit silos
 Cylindrical or rectangular - inverted ground
 Dimension of pit varies - circumstances and
number stock to be fed
 Pit avg width 4 m & with silage settled to depth
2 m hold 1.5 tonnes silage each 30 cm length
PIT SILOS
Trench silo

Ø Similar to pit
Ø Except trench greater length - relation
to width
Ø Process of ensiling similar to that of pit
silo
TRENCH SILO
Advantages
 Tractors - pack the silage
 Adapted ensilage immature corn, cane &
emergency feeds
 Chance of air at the edge minimum
 Unloading & carrying silage very easy
 Bunker silos
 Labour saving
 Above the ground
 Other aspects same as trench silos
BUNKERS SILO
Stack silos

 Simplest method making silage

 Not container like other silos
 Circular - reduces wastage
 Diameter adjusted size of crop
 Final settled height <2m
 Min diameter 3 m,& after settling 2 m
high
 Hold 25 tonnes of silage
STACK SILOS
2. Preparation of forage
 Harvest crops - proper stage of maturity
 Cut to proper length (not >2cm)
 Control the moisture content
 Add additive or preservative needed
 Fill rapidly
 Distribute forage uniformly in the silo
 Seal the silo
Cont…
 Harvest between flowering stage and milk
stage – max amount of nutrients
 maize - early dent stage maturity
 Sorghum - dough stage
 Addition of additives
Mixed silage material - improve quality
Ø Functions
 Supply nutrients
 Provide fermentable CHO
 Furnish additional acids - essential proper
fermentation
 Inhibit undesirable types of bacteria & moulds
 Reduce moisture silage - too high
 Absorb acids - lost in seepage
 Increase N content silage
 Molasses
 1 to 2 %
 Common & cheapest source of sugar
 Short leafy grass or protein rich fodder
crops lucerne or berseem
 15 litres molasses dissolved -15 litres
water each ton crop
Urea
 0.5 % - fresh forages
 Enrich N - cereal forages deficient
Limestone

 Calcium carbonate - 0.5 to 1.0% maize

silage ↑acid production
 Neutralizes initial acids, lactic acid bacteria
perform longer
 More desirable acids
 Sodium metabisulphite
 4 to 8 kg per ton forage
 Su lphu r-diox id e gas red uc es ba cteria l
population
 Partial sterilization
 Undesirable fermentation
Salt

 More palatable
 Does not inhibit bacterial activity
 Release of juices from the cells -
plasmolysis
 Provide suitable fermentation early stage
 MICROBIAL INOCULANTS
 The primary purpose for adding bacterial
inoculants is to increase the number of lactic
acid-producing bacteria. Most commercial
inoculants for silage
 Increase desirable bacteria time of ensiling
 Commercial inoculants - 100000 LAB/g
 Relative increase LAB - 5 to 15%
◦ Homo- fermentative lactic acid bacteria
e.g. Lactobacillus plantarum, Enterococcus
faecium and Pediococcus spp.
◦ Hetero-fermentative LAB is include, L. buchneri
Addition of acids
 Organic acids - propionic and formic acids
sufficient quantities
 Bring pH value about 4.0 to 3.5
 Add 1 % propionic acid forage field - time of
harvest or time of chopping
3. Filling the silo
 Distribute uniformly in the silo
 Leveling, trampling, addition of
pr es e rva t i ve s e t c. ev e ry 3 0 cm la ye r
packing
 Too dry, sprinkle water over each layer
 Filling completed - least time 1 or 2 days.
 Avoid filling - raining
 4. Covering and sealing the silo

 Anaerobic atmosphere - proper fermentation

 covered wet straw, sawdust or other materials
 Plastered 15-30 cm thick layer clay soil
 After covering, weights - paving slabs, concrete
posts, concrete cylinders and wooden logs -
better compression
 Finally thatch straw or roof simple kind - erected
over silo
 Small hole one corner, near surface allow CO2
escape
5. Opening the Silo
 Three months
 Tower and trench silos - entire top surface
 Bunker silo- front side
 Mouldy material top and sides - Discarded &
not fed to the cattle
 Not used feeding, silo should not disturbed
Fermentation process of
silage
Ø The first stage (Respiratory stage)
• The packed raw material s are stil l respiri ng
immediately after chopped and consumes
oxygen.

• The temperature will rise to about 32ºC around 4

days after packing.
Ø The second stage (Early fermentation)
• Production of acetic acid, formic acid and other organic acids
as a result of the growth of facultative aerobic bacteria such
as Enterobacteria.

• The silage pH slowly changes from about 6.0 to 4.0

Ø The third stage (Lactic acid fermentation)

• Lactic acid fermentation begins by lactic acid bacteria which
are anaerobic about 3 days after packing chopped materials.
And acetic acid production declines.
Ø The fourth stage (Cont.… of Lactic acid fermentation)

• Lactic acid production continues for about 2 weeks.

• The temperature goes down slowly to about the normal
atmospheric temperature. and pH is maintained at 4.0

Ø The fifth stage (Stabilization phase)

• Due to the presence of lactic acid, further degradation is
inhibited, as bacterial and fungal growths are checked.

• The lactic acid fermentation completes in about 20 days, and

the silage product is finished.
 Characteristics of Good Silage

 Colour
 Important index of its quality
 Good silage - uniform yellowish green colour
(Phaeophytin)
 Dark brown - excessive heating
 Black - presence air, useless and rotten
 Deep green to black colour - too high moisture
content imparts
Odour and texture
 Good silage - clean colour without
objectionable smell
 Strong smelling silage - poorly palatable &
imparts undesirable smell to milk
 Smell of butyric acid, ammonia or musty
odour - considerable loss feed value
 Too high moisture content - foul smell
 Stubble and foreign matters or fodder cut too
late stage - less palatable & less nutritious
Chemical properties

 Type of crop, age of crop, method of ensiling,

degree of compaction of silo, etc
 Quality of the silage - readily assessed by pH
value
 very Good silage - pH value 4.2 or less
 Lactic acid – 1-2 %
 Butyric acid concentration - absent
 Ammonical nitrogen - less than 10 % of the
total nitrogen
 Flieg index- quality of silage
6. Feeding of Silage
 Disadvantages
 More labour - filling the silo
 ↑cost feeding farm animals
 Requires silo
 Higher cost for small farmers
 Feed contains very less vitamin D than sun-
cured hay
 Preservatives ↑ cost of feed
 Preservatives not freely available in all places
 Cannot use as a sole ration- Unless high
protein legume
 AIV fodder
 Kind of silage
 Developed by A.I. Virtanen in 1925
 Green legume fodder improve the storage
 Process – equal quantities of dil.
HCL and H2SO4
 Increased acidity stops harmful fermentation
 No adverse effect nutritive value
 Modern - 76% formic acid, 5.5% ammonium
formate & water
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