Corn silage, a systematic review of the quality and yield in different regions around the world

Abstract

Corn sialge (Zea mays L.) is the most widely used in the world in dairy cattle diets because of its higher biomass yields, palatability, homogeneous quality at harvest, and ease of silage due to its higher soluble sugar content. Studies were systematically searched to know the silage corn quality and yield from different countries concerning dry matter yield (t/ha), population density (plant density/ha), quantity of Dry Matter (DM), Crude Protein (CP), Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), Non-Fibrous Carbohydrates (NFC), Organic Matter (OM), DM Digestibility (DMD), Neutral Detergent Fiber Digestibility (NDFD), and milk production  (kg) per hectare (kg milk/ha) using MILK2006®. Six clusters (CL, PROC CLUSTER) of corn silage were analyzed: CL1: “Starch,” which included DMD, DNDF, TDN1 x DM, Mega calories per kg of DM, and kg of milk/t DM; CL2: “ether extract” which included TDN1 x DM, Mcal/kg DM, and kg of milk/t DM; CL3: “DM,” composed only of DNDF; CL4: “Plant Density,” including Yield of DM/ha and Milk Production/ha; CL5: “NDF,” and CL6: “CP.” In conclusion, CL1 is characterized by a higher DMD, NDFD, CNF, and starch, which allow higher TDN1 x DM and an energy concentration (Mcal/kg DM) with higher milk production (kg milk/ha). CL2 with a higher ether extract (EE) allows higher TDN1 x DM and an energy concentration (Mcal/kg DM) having a higher milk production (kg milk/ha). The DM concentration increases in the whole plant because of maturity, affecting the starch content and NDFD; the DM content (> 35 g/100 g DM) mainly causes a decrease in the NDFD, while in a very early stage of DM harvest (< 25 g/100 g DM) a low ratio of starch:NDFD is present.