Establishment of Self-sufficient Concentrate by an Ear Corn Silage Production System through Cooperation between Arable and Livestock Farming

Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly
ISSN 00213551
NII recode ID (NCID) AA0068709X
Full text

We have developed an ear corn silage production system in which only nutritious ears of corn are harvested from whole plants by a self-propelled forage harvester equipped with a corn snapping header and a kernel processing unit, followed by using a roll baler for chopped material combined with a bale wrapper to prepare silage. The harvesting capacity was 2.1 ha/h with a harvesting loss of 1.1%. The ensiling capacity was 1.2 ha/h with a product loss ranging from 0.5% to 1.7% after improvements were made to the roll baler for chopped material, combined with a bale wrapper and its program for packing control. Ear corn silage (ECS) contained 48.1% starch and 28.9% NDF. The fermentation quality of the silage after approximately one year in storage was also good: a pH of 4.0, the presence of lactic and acetic acids, and less than 10% of VBN/TN. These results demonstrated the practical use of the ECS mechanical system. ECS residue (i.e. stalks and leaves) was considered to be effective in improving the physical properties of soil, but with no observable effect on crop yield. In the demonstration field, the ECS yield was 8.9 t/ha and the production cost was ¥31.9/kg at 71% dry matter. Assuming that they harvested at 60% dry matter and the loss at ensiling was effectively controlled, the yield of ECS could have been 18.6 t/ha. This is higher than the 16.7 t/ha of yield necessary to sell at the asking price of a dairy farmer. The results above suggest that it is possible for arable farmers to profit by continuing the production of ECS.

Date of issued
Creator Eiko NEMOTO
Subject

crop rotation

feed composition

fermentation quality

roll baler for chopped material combined with bale wrapper

snapping header

Publisher Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
Available Online
NII resource type vocabulary Journal Article
Volume 51
Issue 3
spage 209
epage 215
DOI 10.6090/jarq.51.209
Rights Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences
Relation : J-STAGE
Language eng

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