Effects Of The Rate Of Ear To Whole Plant On Silage Quality In Maize

Maize?Zea mays L.?introducing from the South to the North could increase the biomass and also affect the quality of silage.In order to investigate the influence of the introduction to the silage quality,especially the relationship among the rate of ear to whole plant?ear rate?,nutritional value of forage and silage,quality and silage fermentation quality,13 varieties?lines?from Yunnan Province and 2 local planting varieties of Jiangsu Province were used in the fild experiments.The experiments were conducted at Liuhe station,Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences from May to October in 2013 and 2014.The trails were divided into field test and laboratory measurement.Field experiments were designed in completely randomized block with 4 repetitions.The results were as follows.1.The test varieties?lines?all showed good adaptability in Nanjing area.Biomass was between 23.06-40.39 t hm^-2.Ear yield was between 12.18-24.12 t hm^-2.Ear rate was between 0.42-0.59.Plant height was between 228.11-263.56 cm.Stem diameter was between 20.40-25.15 mm.Ear height was between 64.00-89.28 cm.By the correlation analysis it were concluded that the most important traits affecting biomass was ear rate,followed by ear height,stem diameter and plant height.Biomass changed greatly between years?CV=7.32?,but ear rate was stable?CV=4.61?.So ear rate could be used to evaluate the biomass and qualtiy of silage maize in Nanjing area.2.The test investigated the relationship between ear rate and nutritive value of fresh forage and silage at dough stage and ripe stage.The results showed that ear rate influenced greatly on the nutritive value of fresh forage and silage.The higher rate of ear to whole plant,the better nutritive value of fresh forage and silage would be.The nutritive value of fresh forage was significantly positively related to silage quality.Both dough stage and ripe stage of maize were suitable for whole-crop silage making,and the biomass and nutritive value of ripe stage were better by the increase in ear rate.Therefore,ripe stage of the tested varieties?lines?was more suitable for silage making.3.It investigated the fermentation quality of silage ensling at dough stage and ripe stage for exploring the relationship between ear rate and fermentation quality.The results indicated that great rate of ear to whole plant could enhance the content of water soluble carbohydrate in the whole plant,and improve fermentation quality of the silage.Thus,the fresh forage at ripe stage was more suitable for silage making.In summary,ear rate was an efficient indicator,which could evaluate the biomass and nutritive value of fresh forage and silage and affect the fermentation quality of silage.In Nanjing area,ear rate of silage maize at ripe stage was higher than that at dough stage,so ripe stage was more suitable for silage making.Therefore,breeders,researchers and farmers should pay more attention to ear rate in breeding,cultivation and utilization.