Factors Affecting Nutritive Value of Corn and Sorghum Silage

A knowledge of the appropriate criteria for assessing nutritive quality of forages has been vigorously sought during the past 20 yr. Considerable progress has been made in establishing relationships of chemical constituents to intake and digestibility under specific conditions, but a satisfactory scheme which will consistently predict animal performance continues to elude researchers. However, it now seems well established that the nutritive contribution a forage will make toward meeting an animal's needs depends upon its composition, rate of intake, and the efficiency with which the animal uses the ingested nutrients. From the practical standpoint, the farmer should consider the various aspects of production, harvesting, storing, and feeding which may influence the value of his silages. Therefore, this paper is directed toward summarizing research which relates to answering some of the principal questions in these areas.