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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center » Environmentally Integrated Dairy Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #372416
Research Project: Improving Nutrient Use Efficiency and Mitigating Nutrient and Pathogen Losses from Dairy Production Systems

Location: Environmentally Integrated Dairy Management Research

Title: Effects of bale diameter and preservative application on storage characteristics of alfalfa-grass hays

Author
item Coblentz, Wayne
item AKINS, MATTHEW - University Of Wisconsin

Submitted to: Journal of Dairy Science
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/12/2020
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Spontaneous heating in dry hays is often exacerbated by the large hay packages used today. Our objective was to evaluate a propionic-acid-based preservative applied to large-round bales of alfalfa/grass hay with a HarvestTec 647C Applicator. Eighteen bales (83% alfalfa, 17% mixed grass) were produced at 20.6% moisture with a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of bale diameters (1.2 or 1.5 m) and preservative application strategies [fully automated with adjustments for bale moisture and baling rate, fully automated assuming a constant baling rate, or control (no preservative)]. The study was designed as a randomized complete block with 3 replications. All measures of spontaneous heating differed (P = 0.037) between the 1.2- and 1.5-m bale diameters with the larger-diameter bales exhibiting greater heating, particularly for maximum internal bale temperature (46.1 vs. 41.6oC; P = 0.012) and greater total heating degree days > 30oC (HDD) incurred during storage (334 vs. 106 HDD; P = 0.024). While spontaneous heating was clearly affected by bale diameter, the effects of preservative treatment were more difficult to discern. Acid-treated bales exhibited less heating than control hays only for the mean internal bale temperature during the first 30 d of storage (32.0 vs. 38.3oC; P = 0.042); all other measures of heating did not differ conclusively (P = 0.073). The 2 preservative-application methods did not differ for any measure of heating (P = 0.738), and DM recoveries were not affected by treatment (mean = 95.4%; P = 0.312). Unlike heating characteristics, there generally were interactions of main effects for measures of nutritive value. At the 1.2-m bale diameter, only acid-detergent insoluble CP differed between preservative-treated and control hays (1.65 vs. 1.89% of DM; P = 0.049). For the 1.5-m bale diameter, strong differences between preservative-treated and control hays were observed for NDF (54.0 vs. 58.6%; P = 0.001), ADF (37.9 vs. 41.5%; P = 0.007), ADL (8.28 vs. 9.19%; P = 0.014) and TDN (54.7 vs. 52.2%; P = 0.011). Bale size likely has a strong effect on preservative effectiveness.