This trial evaluated the effect of particle size (small: between 0.2 and 0.6 cm or large: between 1.0 and 2.0 cm) and cutting height (low cut: 15.2 cm or high cut: 38.6 cm) of the corn plant on losses and nutritional value of silages. Treatments were: T1 - small particle size with low cutting height; T2 - large particle size with low cutting height; T3 - small particle size with high cutting height; and T4 - large particle size with high cutting height. No significant interaction was observed between cutting height and particle size for the following response variables: DM loss, CP loss, and NDF loss. Significant interaction was observed between cutting height and silo stratum and between particle size and silo stratum for the variables DM loss and CP loss, respectively. The high cutting silages (38.6 cm) on the inferior stratum showed higher losses (4.91%) compared to the superior silo stratum (2.67%) and low cutting silages (15,2 cm) regardless of the silo stratum. Greater CP losses were observed on the silages with small particle size on the superior stratum (18.96%) and on the silages with large particle size on the inferior stratum (18.68%) compared to silages with small particle size on the inferior stratum (11.52%) and silages with large particle size on the superior stratum (17.54%). Silages with large particle size resulted in higher physical losses at feeding-out.
chemical losses; corn silage; crude protein; physical losses; silo stratum
