About 40 t of chopped sorghum forage (silage variety) was treated with 4% (by weight dry ) sodium hydroxide at ensiling in a plastic bag. Another 40 t of the forage was ensiled without treatment in the same bag. Early in fermentation pH was higher in treated forage, but by day 21 pH was about 4.0, and amounts of acid were similar in treated and control silage. In a feeding trial eight cows receiving treated silage after 6-wk ensiling produced 21.2 kg milk with 2.83% fat; eight cows fed control silage produced 19.9 kg milk containing 2.77% fat. Mean in vitro dry matter disappearance was 58.8 and 52.1% for weekly samples of treated and control silage. Freeze-dried samples of both treated and control silages were treated with an additional 4% sodium hydroxide and 1% nitrogen from urea (by weight dry ) in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. Laboratory treatment with alkali increased in vitro dry matter disappearance of dried sorghum silage and interacted significantly with nitrogen supplementation. Apparently treatment of wet sorghum forage with 4% dry sodium hydroxide produced a satisfactory feed but did not achieve maximum improvement in in vitro dry matter disappearance of the silage. This experiment measured the effect of pre-ensiling treatment of chopped sorghum forage with 4% NaOH on silage fermentation, IVDMD, and milk production of Holstein cows. An in vitro experiment measured the effect of laboratory treatment of silage with an additional 4% NaOH and supplementation with 1% nitrogen from urea on IVDMD percent.
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Ghebriel et al. (1981) studied this question.
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