Abstract
The aim of the study was to assess how the harvesting and ensilage technology influenced the quality of maize straw silages. The research findings showed that it was best to make maize straw silage in a flexible silo, whereas it was least favourable to make it in a film-covered field prism. The choice of the adequate ensilage method results in a high quality silage even if there is high content of dry matter in maize straw.
Highlights
At present whole maize plants are the most common substrate for biogas production in Central Europe [1]
The crop residue makes 47-50% of the dry weight yield of whole maize plants [4]
The maize straw ensilaged in a flexible silo contained 48.72% of dry matter (Table 1)
Summary
At present whole maize plants are the most common substrate for biogas production in Central Europe [1]. The production of maize grains leaves crop residue, such as stalks, leaves, cob cores and cob-covering leaves. There is 0.15 kg of cob cores, 0.22 kg of leaves, 0.14 kg of cob-covering leaves and 0.5 kg of stalks per one kilogram of the dry weight of maize grains [4]. In 2015 maize grain production in Poland amounted to 3.16 million tonnes [5]. There is high potential of maize straw as a substrate for biogas production in Poland [6-8]. In Poland maize is harvested for grain in late autumn (October-November), when the air temperature drops and the humidity rises. Under these conditions the moisture of maize grains usually ranges from 30% to 35%. The aim of the study was to assess how the harvesting and ensilage technology influenced the quality of maize straw silages
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