Abstract
A study was conducted to determine the effects of maturity at harvest and wilting days on the quality of round baled rye (Secale cereale L.) silage. This study was a $3{\times}3$ factorial arrangement in a split plot design with 3 replicates. The main plot was 3 harvesting dates at the stage of boot (20 Apr.), heading (29 Apr.) and flowering (14 May). The subplot was wilting day : 0 (unwilted), 0.5 and 1 day (0, 1, and 2 days at boot stage). Acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contents of rye silage were significantly greater than those of rye before ensiling, but crude protein (CP) content and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) were vice versa. Buffering capacity (BC) of rye harvested at flowering stage was decreased from 264 to 202 meq/kg at 1 day wilting, however, it was increased when harvested at boot or heading stage. The pH in wilted silage was the highest while that of flowering stage was the lowest. Water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content of wilting rye was lower than that of unwilted, and the lowest at late harvesting stage. All plots had minimal WSC content for silage fermentation. Wilting treatment and delayed harvesting date caused an increase in dry matter (DM) content of round bale silage. The content of ammonia-N expressed as a portion of total N showed negative correlation with DM content. High quality silage according to ammonia-N content could be obtained from mid-harvest with wilting. There were highly significant differences in each organic acid between harvesting dates and wilting periods. Acetic and butyric acid contents were increased with delayed harvesting and prolonged wilting period, the lactic acid content, however, was decreased. This study demonstrated that harvest of rye from heading to flowering stage with wilting would be a recommendable method for making high quality rye silage using round bale system.