Case Study: Fermentation of frozen whole-plant corn silage and high-moisture corn after thawing

• DOI: 10.15232/pas.2017-01615
• Publication Date: 2017-07-27T17:35:48Z
• Authors: L.F. Ferraretto; J.P. Goeser; R.D. Shaver
• Keywords: Silage

The study objectives were to evaluate (1) the effect of thawing unfermented whole-plant corn (WPC; Exp. 1) on fermentation capacity after several months frozen storage, and (2) temperature profile thawed high-moisture (HMC; 2) stored for a longer period then fermented at 2 ambient temperatures. Unfermented WPC HMC samples obtained from University Wisconsin–Madison Agricultural Research Station (Arlington, WI) harvest, immediately frozen, −20°C 4 or 17 mo, respectively. Both, thawed, homogenized, divided into 24 33 subsamples, Subsamples vacuum sealed in plastic bags randomly assigned treatments with 3 replications each. Experiment 1 received 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 28 d fermentation. mini-silos fermenting dark either warm (at room 20°C; WR) cold (in refrigerator set 3°C; CD) temperatures allowed ferment d, plus random subsamples analyzed as fresh samples. Gradual increases lactate acetate concentrations observed along gradual decrease pH (P = 0.001). A × ensiling time interaction was < 0.001) all measurements. This related occurring WR but not CD treatments. These findings suggest that maintain upon even being prolonged will occur until is reached.