Effect of Moisture Content and Storage Time on Sweet Corn Waste Silage Quality

Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of moisture content in sweet corn waste and fermentation period on silage quality. Three pressure levels of 0, 0.6675 and 1.0013 N/cm2 for 1 min were assigned to sweet corn waste obtained from the sweet corn factory. Four fermentation periods at 0, 30, 60 and 90 days were assigned on silage for the 3´4 factorial experimental design. The results showed that the level of pressure yielded different values (p < 0.01), for the dry matter, moisture, crude fiber, nitrogen free extract, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, acid detergent lignin, gross energy, lactic acid, acetic acid and the butyric acid, except crude protein, fat, ash and pH content. It was found that dry matter, crude fiber, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and gross energy increased when the level of pressure increased. The period of fermentation had a significant effect (p < 0.01) on chemical composition. The pH levels were high at 30 days of fermentation and decreased at longer periods up to 90 days. We concluded that sweet corn waste silage with higher dry matter content and being fermented for 30 days contained the highest nutritive values among all treatments combinations.doi:10.14456/WJST.2015.18