Intake and Digestibility of Corn Silages

T HE feeding of corn silage has long been a common practice in corn producing areas; however, the effect of cultural practices on nutritive value has received only minor attention. Some important factors are: stage of maturity (Huber, Groff and Engel, 1965), varieties (White et al., 1924), plant population (Nevens, 1951; Alexander et al., 1963) and soil fertility (Alexander et al., 1963). Since many of these studies were conducted with only one variable at a time, it is difficult to evaluate possible interactions. In addition, management practices in use today include a much wider range among the variables than those studied previously. The purpose of these experiments was to estimate the nutritive value of corn silage harvested at several stages of maturity or moisture contents, at different plant populations per hectare and with varieties which differ in date of maturity (based on length of growing season needed for complete growth and ripening).