This experiment was conducted to determine
the effect of grain content on the nutritive
value of whole-plant grain sorghum silage.
Silage dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM),
and crude protein (CP) contents increased with
increasing levels of grain in the reconstituted,
whole-plant silages, whereas neutral detergent
fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF)
contents decreased as the level of grain increased
from 0 to 48%. When fed to sheep
(used as a model), voluntary DM intake and
DM and OM digestibilities increased in a linear
manner, whereas ADF digestibility decreased
with increasing level of grain. Crude protein
and NDF digestibilities responded in a quadratic
fashion to increasing grain content. These
results suggest that the optimum level of grain
in whole-plant grain sorghum silage is at least
48% of the DM in a high silage-based ration.
