Abstract
High moisture feeds such as baleage are becoming a more practiced feed storage method in the Southeast due to the ability for more timely harvests and consistent forage quality compared with dry hay. The objective of this study was to determine the nutritive quality and fermentation kinetics of three different cool-season annual mixtures stored as baleage. The forage treatments were wheat (Triticum aestivum) + T-Raptor (Brassica rapa × napus; WT), wheat + crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum; WC), and annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) + oats (Avena sativa) + crimson clover (ROC) which were planted at the E.V. Smith Research Center in Shorter, AL, as a 3 × 2 × 8 factorial design (n = 3). Forage was either inoculated (I) or not inoculated (N) with a cereal/grass silage inoculant to determine its efficacy in promoting proper fermentation. Samples were taken at 8 different days after ensiling to determine fermentation kinetics and quality. Crude protein of WC was greater (P ≤ 0.005) than all other forage treatments (17.1%) and wheat + crimson clover-I was greater (P = 0.024) than WC-N (17.7 and 16.4%, respectively). However, ROC–N had greater (P = 0.033) CP than ROC–I (16.5 and 15.0%, respectively). Wheat + T-raptor ensiled with the lowest (P ≤ 0.003) pH while ROC had the greatest (P ≤ 0.001; 4.5 and 5.4, respectively). Forage treatments WC and WT did not differ (P = 0.140) in lactic acid concentration (3.7%); however, both were greater (P ≤ 0.001) than ROC (0.9%). There were no differences (P ≥ 0.128) in acetic acid concentration among all forage treatments (3.5%). The results of this study indicate that WC had the greatest nutrient quality, but do not indicate that silage inoculants offer benefits to baleage fermentation kinetics.