Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Dry matter content is the principal physical driver of maize silage fermentation, but it is not established whether rising dry matter content merely scales the acid pool downwards or also alters its composition. The aim of the study was to establish how the fermentation profile of commercial maize silage changes with dry matter content, distinguishing contraction of the acid pool from a change in its composition, and to establish how that profile varies with crude ash content within dry matter ranges. A database of 625 commercial maize silages showing no signs of impaired fermentation was stratified into three ranges (<30%, 30-36%, >36% dry matter) and analysed by one-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s test, Pearson correlation and linear regression. Across the 12.04-percentage-point span between the extreme ranges, total measured acid contents fell by 25.4%, acetic acid by 32.8% and lactic acid by 22.6%; pH rose by 0.15 units and ammonia content fell by 13.3%. Because the two acids declined at unequal rates, the lactic-to-acetic acid ratio increased from 2.86 ± 0.10 to 3.35 ± 0.09 (p = 0.001), whereas the proportion of acetic acid did not differ significantly among ranges ( p = 0.107), and most of the shift occurred between the <30% and 30-36% ranges. Dry matter content therefore governs the extent of fermentation decisively and its direction only weakly. Within each range, crude ash content was positively associated with acetic acid content (r = 0.588, 0.361 and 0.347) and, in the two drier ranges, with higher pH and a lower lactic-to-acetic acid ratio. Acetic acid reference values should accordingly be range-specific, and silage above 36% dry matter requires explicit management of aerobic stability at feed-out
Authors: Andrii Bilous, Igor Ilchuk, Iryna Svystunova
Language: English
Subfield: Animal Science and Zoology
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225635977