Effect of silage additives and wilting on silage fermentation, digestibility and intake, and on liveweight change of young cattle

Data from thirty-three experiments conducted at three ADAS Experimental Husbandry Farms were used to compare unwilted non-additive-treated silage with silage treated with formic acid, a formalin and formic-acid mixture, a calcium-formate and sodium-nitrite mixture, a formalin and sulphuric-acid mixture and wilted silage made without or with formic acid or a formalin and formic-acid mixture.
Formic acid significantly reduced pH and wilting significantly increased silage pH compared with other treatments. Formalin-acid mixtures significantly reduced pH compared with untreated silage. Formic acid in conjunction with formalin or wilting significantly increased water-soluble carbohydrate in silage compared with other treatments except wilting. Formic acid either alone or combined with either formalin or wilting significantly reduced silage butyric acid content compared with other treatments. Formic acid treatment either alone or combined with formalin significantly increased lactic acid as a proportion of total silage acids compared with other treatments except sulphuric acid-formalin.
All treatments significantly increased silage dry matter (DM) intake compared with untreated silage and intakes of wilted silage were significantly greater than of unwilted silage. Daily liveweight gains on all treatments were significantly higher than on untreated silage.
Herbage water-soluble carbohydrate necessary for successful preservation as silage without additive use was approximately 30 g (kg DM)^?1 and with additives containing formic acid it was approximately 25 g (kg DM)^?1.
It is suggested that formic acid application to unwilted silage either alone or in conjuction with formalin was the best treatment for improving subsequent preservation as silage, and that animal performance was enhanced by addition of acid-formalin additives to unwilted herbage or formic-acid application to unwilted or wilted herbage.