TABLE 3.
The chemical composition (g kg–1 DM) of sweet sorghum silage at flowering and maturing stages.
| Stage | Cultivar | Bloom | DM (%) | WSC | CP | EE | CF | ASH |
| Flowering | Yajin | − | 17.15 ± 0.17a | 2.97 ± 0.18b | 53.96 ± 2.92a | 104.60 ± 0.96a | 364.09 ± 1.16a | 82.33 ± 5.04a |
| + | 16.93 ± 0.47a | 5.33 ± 0.31a | 44.48 ± 2.63b | 73.27 ± 0.31b | 375.75 ± 8.65a | 85.33 ± 2.91a | ||
| Jintian | − | 15.33 ± 0.11a | 4.24 ± 0.00a | 51.77 ± 1.46a | 92.57 ± 5.02a | 336.99 ± 4.82a | 80.34 ± 2.91a | |
| + | 15.06 ± 0.38a | 2.79 ± 0.18b | 51.04 ± 0.73a | 98.00 ± 3.21a | 346.33 ± 4.33a | 87.00 ± 2.08a | ||
| Analysis of variance | ||||||||
| Cultivar | 33.42*** | 9.81* | 1.05 | 4.41 | 27.02*** | 0.002 | ||
| Bloom | 0.59 | 5.01 | 5.77* | 18.35** | 3.73 | 2.00 | ||
| Cultivar × Bloom | 0.11 | 88.26*** | 4.23 | 36.96*** | 0.05 | 0.29 | ||
| Maturing | Yajin | − | 24.13 ± 0.52a | 25.25 ± 1.32a | 50.58 ± 0.88a | 71.18 ± 4.99b | 345.96 ± 3.84a | 88.37 ± 1.27a |
| + | 23.66 ± 1.10a | 15.55 ± 0.76b | 46.62 ± 0.88b | 92.14 ± 2.99a | 330.71 ± 10.56a | 87.57 ± 1.37a | ||
| Jintian | − | 24.19 ± 0.42a | 39.81 ± 1.27a | 51.46 ± 0.00a | 72.72 ± 0.46a | 338.46 ± 4.38a | 72.00 ± 1.53b | |
| + | 23.82 ± 0.17a | 34.54 ± 1.52b | 44.42 ± 1.59b | 70.16 ± 1.05a | 353.40 ± 5.61a | 82.72 ± 1.22a | ||
| Analysis of variance | ||||||||
| Cultivar | 0.027 | 180.6*** | 0.43 | 11.85** | 1.30 | 61.74*** | ||
| Bloom | 0.43 | 36.0*** | 29.8*** | 9.61* | 0.001 | 13.5** | ||
| Cultivar × Bloom | 0.01 | 3.15 | 2.33 | 15.7** | 5.15 | 18.2** | ||
DM, dry matter; WSC, water-soluble carbohydrates; CP, crude protein; EE, ether extract; CF, crude fiber. −, without bloom; +, with bloom. Values followed by different lowercase letters in the same column within each cultivar are significantly different at P < 0⋅05 according to the least significant difference test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.