Effects on Silage Quality and Aerobic Stability of Different Compaction Levels in Sunflower Silage

Abstract

In this study, the effects of different compaction levels on the silage quality and aerobic stability of sunflower silage harvested at the beginning (BFS) and end of the flowering (EFS) stages were investigated. Four compaction applications (no compaction (NC), compaction with 150 kPa (C1), 248 kPa (C2) and 498 kPa (C3) were done in the study. Each treatment was ensiled for 50 days in PVC type's silos with three replications. Temperature variations were recorded with 5 days interval after opening the silos to detect the aerobic stability of the treatments. It was observed that compaction levels had significant effect on some quality criteria of the BFS and EFS stages. Statistically significant differences were found among the values of pH, DM, NH(3)-N, NH(3)-N/TN, WSC, NDF and ADF in BFS stage against all parameters expect NDF and ADF in EFS stage. Silage characteristics were affected positive increasing compaction levels. Different compaction levels after the opening did not considerable effects on the aerobic stability.