Table 5.

Effect of wilting rate (target 22.5% or 37.5% DM) and silage additive (without or with) on silage fermentation characteristics averaged across cuts and crop types (n = 15).

	22.5% DM		37.5% DM		SEM	P value
	Without	With	Without	With		Cut	DM	Cut × DM	Add	Cut × Add	DM × Add	Cut × DM × Add
Lactic acid, g/kg DM	61.7	31.4	26.9	13.9	2.475	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.183	< 0.001	0.003	0.001	0.025
Acetic acid, g/kg DM	17.7	7.83	8.70	3.41	0.861	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.493	< 0.001	0.022	0.012	0.290
Propionic acid, g/kg DM	1.54	0.98	0.99	0.91	0.079	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.619	< 0.001	0.094	0.005	0.637
Butyric acid, g/kg DM	8.50	5.64	3.95	1.71	0.705	< 0.01	< 0.001	0.345	< 0.001	0.140	0.662	0.534
Ethanol, g/kg DM	3.44	2.61	2.70	1.36	0.254	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.433	< 0.001	0.003	0.319	0.720
Formic acid, g/kg DM	0.70	12.3	0.28	5.22	0.377	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.505	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.821
pH	4.17	4.14	4.51	4.73	0.050	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.050	0.312	0.021	0.002
NH3, g/kg total N	63.4	41.3	38.0	28.8	2.102	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.020	< 0.001	0.877	0.004	0.854

Cuts are numbered 1, 3 and 5 for the three consecutive cuts in the three-cut system and 2 and 4 for 1st and 2nd cut in the two-cut system, respectively. Cut × DM: Interaction between cut and dry matter; Add, Silage additive (with or without), Cut × Add: Interaction between cut and Add, DM × Add: interaction between DM and Add, Cut × DM × Add, three-way interaction between Cut, DM and Add.