Chemical composition and quality of sweet sorghum and maize silages

Abstract

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum saccharatum) silage, maize (Zea mays) silage, and sorghum and maize (1:1) silage were investigated. The silages were analysed for chemical composition, quality and aerobic stability. Dry matter was the lowest (20.88%) in sorghum silage and the highest (37.45%) in maize silage. In sorghum silage, the concentration of crude ash and crude fibre was higher, and that of crude protein, crude fat and N-free extractives lower compared to maize silage. Neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre were the highest in sorghum silage and the lowest in maize silage. The silages were dominated by lactic acid, with trace amounts of butyric acid. Maize silage was higher lactic acid and higher total acids than others. All silages were of very good quality according to Flieg-Zimmer scale. Silage pH ranged from 4.20 to 4.31. Sorghum silage was characterized by higher aerobic stability (81h) compared to the other silages from maize (74h) and sorghum and maize 1:1 (69h).