Grass and Forage Science (1987) 42, 1-8
The effect of dry matter eontent and silage additives on the
fermentation of grass silage on commercial farms
P, M, HAIGHt
Welsh Office, Agricultural Department, Cardiff, pH to 4 23 compared with 125 g (kg total N)-'
Wales
Abstract
A total of 1713 samples of silage from commercial
farm silos were analysed to investigate the effect
of dry matter (DM) content and chemical addi-
tives on fermentation as measured by ammonia-
N concentration and pH, Increasing DM content
without additive use had a major beneficial
influence upon fermentation. When silage DM
contents were greater than 260 g kg~' 83% of
silages were well fermented, with average ammo-
nia-N concentrations of 94 g (kg total N)"' and
pH 4 36, With diminishing DM concentration the
proportion of well fermented silages declined. In
the DM range 220-260 g kg"' 67% of silages were
well fermented with ammonia-N concentrations
of 125 g (kg total N)-' and pH 4 30, in the DM
range 180-220 g kg"' 48% were well fermented
with ammonia-N at 151 g (kg total N)~' and pH
4 38 and with DM below 180 g kg"' no silages
were well fermented with ammonia-N concentra-
tion of 252 g (kg total N)"' and pH 4-84,
The benefit of chemical additives, albeit at
poorly defined and often inadequate rates, was
small in comparison to that of increased DM
concentration. Below DM concentrations of 180
and 220 g kg~', the only benefit was that formic
acid decreased ammonia-N to 151 g (kg total
N)-' and pH to 4-32 compared with 163 g (kg
total N)-' and pH 4-43 for untreated silages.
Within the DM range 220-260 g kg"' formic acid
decreased ammonia-N level to 104 g (kg total
N)~' and pH to 4-07, and there was a slight
benefit from using sulphuric acid/formalin which
t Correspondence: P, M, Haigh, Welsh Office Agriculture
Department, 66 Ty Glas Road, Llanishen, Cardiff, UK CF4
5ZB,
decreased ammonia-N to 117 g (kg total N)"' and
and pH 4-27 for untreated silages. Above 260 g
DM kg"' both formic acid and sulphuric acid/
formalin provided a small but consistent decrease
in ammonia-N and pH compared with untreated
silages. Chemical additive use conferred no other
benefit when compared with untreated silage.
Calcium formate/sodium nitrite mixtures and
acid mixture use provided no benefit in fermen-
tation compared with untreated herbage.
Introduction
In recent years much research has been devoted to
fermentation control by the application of addi-
tives at harvesting. It is estimated that 20-2
million tonnes of silage were made in England
and Wales in 1984 (Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food, 1985) of which about half
would be treated with additives (Agricultural
Development and Advisory Service, 1979; Craw-
shaw and Hughes, 1978), Several reviews of the
benefits of silage additives have recently been
published (Waldo, 1978; McDonald, 1981), Their
use is widely advocated (Raymond et al.., 1973),
particularly with young grass and legumes
(Breirem and Ulvesli, 1960) and crops ensiled in
difficult weather conditions, i,e,, when wilting is
difficult (Agricultural Development and Advi-
sory Service, 1978), It is further suggested that
additives such as fonnic acid have led to the
making, on farms, of silages with lower levels of
volatile acids and ammonia, and much more
consistent fermentation quality than in the past
(Tayler and Wilkins, 1976),
Information is lacking on the effectiveness of
proprietary silage additives on commercial farms.
The only results available in the UK are those
recorded by Ibbotson (1976) and Crawshaw and
Hughes (1978),
2 P. M. Haigh
Materials and methods
The following investigation reports results of 964
samples of silage analysed by the Agricultural
Development and Advisory Service (ADAS) col-
lected from Yorkshire and Lancashire during
1972-78 and 749 silages from Derbyshire, Leices-
tershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and
Nottinghamshire collected during 1974-78.
Sampling
Only two methods of taking samples for analysis
were used. Silage samples were taken mainly by
coring to a depth of 1 -3 m with a 30-mm diameter
corer designed by Alexander (1960). Occasionally
grab samples, taken from the face of a silo, were
used for analysis. Details of the amount and
nature of additive used were collected from
farmers at the time of sampling.
Silages which were stated to have received
additive at less than half the manufacturers'
lowest recommended rate (Crawshaw, 1977) were
not included as being representative of that
additive.
Chemical analysis
Oven-dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), pH,
ammonia-N (NH3-N) and modified acid deter-
gent fibre (MAD fibre) were determined accord-
ing to Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food (1981). Digestibility (DOMD) was calcu-
lated (Agricultural Development and Advisory
Service, 1977a), from the equation DOMD (g
kg-') = 914 - 0 81 MAD fibre.
Additives applied
Additives applied were formic acid ('Add F', BP
Nutrition Ltd), a mixture of sulphuric acid and
formalin ('Sylade', ICI Ltd), a mixture of calcium
formate and sodium nitrite ('Kylage Extra', Pan
Britannica Industries Ltd) and acid mixtures, i.e.,
other commercial silage additives containing mix-
tures of acids ('Fodderade S', Dallas Keith Ltd,
'GAP', Mineral Supplements Ltd, 'Silaphos',
Chapman and Frearson Ltd, 'Silage Care', Bell
and Sons Ltd, 'Silage Maker', Tithebarn Ltd,
'Silage Master', Agil Ltd and 'Silage Shield', FSL
Ltd).
Silage fermen tat ion
Ammonia-N. An ammonia-N value of less than
80-100 g (kg total N)~' is commonly used to
indicate that silage has undergone good fermen-
tation with progressively poorer fermentation
above this level (McDonald and Whittenbury,
1973). For this survey an ammonia-N content of
< 100 g (kg total N)~' was used to indicate well
fermented silage.
pH. Many workers have used pH as the sole
criterion for assessing silage fermentation. How-
ever, pH alone is an unreliable guide, because
with increasing DM level, stable conditions may
be achieved at much higher pH (McDonald and
Whittenbury, 1973; McDonald, 1981). For this
survey the equation below (Haigh, 1983) was used
to calculate the theoretically desirable pH of
silages of different DM concentrations.
pH = 0-00359 DM (g kg"')-I-3-44
If the observed pH value was below the predicted
pH value, silages were assumed to be well fer-
mented.
Results
The incidence of additive use
It was impossible to be precise about the quantity
of additive applied per tonne of grass ensiled.
When asked, most farmers claimed to have
applied an additive at the recommended rate,
though they often did not know either the amount
of grass ensiled or the quantity of additive used.
Rates applied were extremely variable with high
rates of additive being applied when wet grass was
ensiled in wet weather and low rates or none at all
when dry grass was ensiled in good weather.
Despite these considerable drawbacks a guide to
the rates of additive claimed to have been used is
given in Table 1. Overall the amount of additive
applied was often lower than manufacturers
would recommend.
The incidence of additive use in relation to
DM, CP and DOMD of silages is given in Table 2
and the mean DM, CP and DOMD contents of
silages in Table 3.
The relationship between additive use and DM
concentration. About half the silages sampled had
received additive. Average DM concentration of
 Silage dry matter and additives

Table 1. A comparison of additive application rates from the survey with

those recommended by the manufacturers

Calcium
Sulphuric formate/
Application rate Formic acid/ sodium Acid
(kg or I t - ' ) acid formalin nitrite mixtures

Manufacturers recommendedf 2-5 2-5-5 I'g 0-5-2

Survey
Lowest acceptable 1-5 1-5 10 0-5
fviean 2-2 2-5 1-5 0-7
s.e. 0-70 0-43 0-36 0-64

t Taken from Crawshaw (1977) and Agricultural Development and

Advisory Service (1986).

Table 2. Incidence of additive use in relation to DM, CP and DOMD of

silages

Calcium
Sulphuric formate/
No Formic acid/ sodium Acid
additive acid formalin nitrite mixtures Total

DM(gkg-' )
<180 25 5 5 5 12 52
180-220 188 52 60 43 55 398
220-260 218 78 130 30 60 516
260-300 207 49 69 17 47 389
>300 218 39 60 II 30 358
CP(g(kgDM)-')
<120 224 37 27 20 33 341
12^-140 258 55 75 25 49 462
140-160 197 58 107 27 62 451
160-180 125 43 72 24 40 304
>180 52 30 43 10 20 155
DOMD (g (kg D M ) - ')
<610 251 39 38 25 53 406
610-640 341 76 123 39 68 647
640-670 214 80 128 32 68 522
>670 50 28 35 10 15 138
Total 856 223 324 106 204 1713

Table 3. DM, CP and DOMD content of silages in relation to additive use

Calcium
Sulphuric formate/
No Formic acid/ sodium Acid
additive acid formalin nitrite mixtures Mean

DM(gkg-') 270 257 260 240 247 261-9

CP(g(kgDM)-') 138 148 153 146 148 144-0
DOMD(g(kgDM)-') 628 641 641 633 632 633-2
 p. M. Haigh
untreated silages was 270 g kg"'. Above a DM
concentration of 300 g kg"' about 40% of the
silages were treated with additive. However,
additive use did not greatly increase as silage DM
decreased but remained constant with about 55%
of silages with DM concentration below 260 g
kg"' being treated with additive irrespective of
DM level. Formic acid was applied to 10-15% of
silages and its use appeared to be independent of
DM. Sulphuric acid/formalin was applied mainly
to drier silages with mean DM concentrations of
260 g kg-', with 14% of silages with DM
concentration below 220 g kg"' and 21% of
silages above this DM concentration being
treated. Calcium formate/sodium nitrite was
applied to silages of mean DM concentration of
240 g kg-' with 11 % of silages below a DM
concentration of 220 g kg-' and 5% silages above
this DM concentration being treated. Acid mix-
tures were applied to silages of mean DM concen-
tration of 247 g kg"' with 23% of silages below a
DM concentration of 180 g kg-' and 12% of
silages above this DM concentration being
treated.
Overall the results indicated that, when poss-
ible, farmers attempted to increase the DM
content of early cut silage by wilting and that if
they were unable to achieve a satisfactory in-
crease in DM, an additive was used in conjunc-
tion with wilting.
The relationship between additive use and CP. had no effect in the DM range 180-220 g kg-' and
The incidence of additive use, particularly that of above 220 g DM kg-' it consistently reduced the
sulphuric acid/formalin, increased with increas-
ing CP. The mean CP of untreated silages was 138
g (kg DM)-'compared with 153g(kgDM)-' for
sulphuric acid/formalin treated silages.
The relationship between additive use and
DOMD. The incidence of additive use, particu-
larly formic acid and sulphuric acid/formalin,
increased with increasing DOMD. The mean
DOMD of untreated silages was 628 g (kg DM)-'
compared with 641 g (kg DM)-' for formic acid
and sulphuric acid/formalin treated silages.
Silage Fermentation
The ammonia-N in g (kg total N)-' and pH of
silages at given DM ranges are given in Table 4
and the proportion of well fermented silages at
each DM range in relation to additive use is given additives. The benefit of additive use, albeit at
in Table 5.
Effect of silage DM in the absence of additive
use. Fermentation quality of silages was
enhanced by increasing DM. The proportion of
silages in each DM range which were well fer-
mented decreased with diminishing DM concen-
tration. Above 260 g DM kg-' 83% of the silages
were well fermented. This decreased to 67% in the
DM concentration range 220-260 g kg"' and
48% in the range 180-220 g kg"'. Below 180 g
DM kg-' no silages were well fermented.
The effect of formic acid. Formic acid was
consistently the most effective silage additive. It
reduced the ammonia-N content by 11 g (kg total
N)"' and pH values of silages by 0-16 units
compared with untreated silages and thereby
improved the proportion of well fermented
silages particularly below DM concentrations of
260 g kg-' when the percentage of well fermented
silages, particularly below DM concentrations of
260 g kg-', when the percentage of well fermented
silages was 67% compared with 55% for
untreated silages. Above 260 g DM kg"' the
improvement was less, so that 90% of silages
treated with formic acid were well fermented
compared with 83% of untreated silages.
The effect of sulphuric acid and formalin. Sul-
phuric acid/formalin treatment reduced the
ammonia-N and pH value of the small number of
silages with DM concentrations below 180 g kg-',
ammonia-N content and pH of silages to the
modest extent of 10 g (kg total N)-' and 0-05 pH
units compared with untreated silages. Sulphuric
acid/formalin did not improve the proportion of
well fermented silages with DM concentrations
below 220 g kg-'. Above this DM level it
provided a small but consistent improvement
with 82% of silages being well fermented com-
pared with 78% of untreated silages.
The effect of calcium formate/sodium nitrite and
acid mixtures. Neither calcium formate/sodium
nitrite nor acid mixture treatment was generally
effective in enhancing silage fermentation com-
pared with untreated silages at any DM concen-
tration.
The interrelationships between silage DM and
poorly defined and often inadequate rates, was
 Silage dry matter and additives
Table 4. The ammonia-N and pH values of treated and untreated silages at different DM concentration
ranges, together with pH value required to produce a good fermentation

Ammonia-N (g (kg D M ) - ' )

DM range(g kg
r')
<180 180-220 220-260 260-300 >300 Mean

No additive 252 151 125 105 84 119 5

Formic acid 216 145 104 94 72 1082
Sulphuric acid + formalin 188 172 117 95 72 115 2
Calcium formate + sodium nitrite 284 174 133 105 95 1485
Acid mixtures 278 179 137 95 92 140 6

Mean 251 3 160 0 122 0 100 9 81 8 121 6

pH
DM range (g kg

pHt
<180 180-220 220-260 260-300 >300 Mean required

No additive 484 438 427 428 444 436 4 41

Formic acid 484 4-27 407 413 440 420 436
Sulphuric acid + formalin 4-78 454 423 421 442 433 437
Calcium formate + sodium nitrite 476 457 439 429 433 446 430
Acid mixtures 509 455 434 424 444 443 432

Mean 488 443 424 424 442 435

pH required! 406 4-17 430 444 470 438

t pH required to produce a good fermentation, see text.

much less pronounced than that from increased
DM. The greatest benefit produced from additive
use was when formic acid was applied to silages
within the DM concentration range 180-220 g
kg-' when 56% of the silages were well fermented
compared with 48% of the untreated silages.
However, far more benefit was obtained without
additive use when silage DM level was increased
from 180-220 g kg"' to 220-260 g kg"', when
67% of silages were well fermented.
Discussion
Silage DM content
The survey demonstrated that silages with DM
concentrations above 260 g kg-' were well fer-
mented. Below this DM content, fermentation
quality declined as silages became more moist.
This conclusion agrees with the findings of Craw-
shaw and Hughes (1978) and Ibbotson (1976),
which showed that silages with DM concentra-
tions above 250 g kg-' were well fermented
without additive use, whilst silages of lower DM
content were not.
Formic acid
The survey results agree with those of Waldo
(1978) that formic acid was less successful than
wilting as a method of controlling fermentation.

Table 5. The proportion of well fermented silages at each DM range in relation to additive
use

DM range (g k g - ' )

<180 180-220 220-260 260-300 >300 Mean

No additive 0 048 067 080 086 069

Formic acid 020 056 078 084 092 075
Sulphuric acid + formalin 010 035 070 082 094 070
Calcium formate+sodium nitrite 010
010 0 31 068 079 082 053
Acid mixtures 0 034 055 0 81 083 056

Mean 004 043 068 0 81 088 0674

 p. M. Haigh
Gordon (1981) and Castle and Watson (1982)
have stated that when additives enable the pro-
duction of unwilted silages with a good fermen-
tation and high voluntary intake, wilting should
not always he an accepted practice. However, this
survey shows clearly that formic acid application
did not, in practice, consistently produce well
preserved silages when used with wet crops. The
main reason for this difference is prohahly that
the rates of application were generally variable
and lower than manufacturers would recom-
mend. Its effectiveness may also have been
reduced because it is highly volatile and may
disappear duringfieldapplication on commercial
farms, and because effluent production is greater
when formic acid is applied than when no additive
is used (Parker and Bastiman, 1982).
The results suggest that formic acid was most
effective in the DM concentration range
220-260 g kg-'. However, with increasingly low
DM levels, a good silage fermentation cannot be
assured, because of low and incorrect rates of
application.
Sulphuric acid and formalin
The survey showed that sulphuric acid/formalin
provided no reduction in ammonia-N or pH
value compared with untreated silages with DM
levels of 180-220 g kg-' and a small but consis-
tent reduction above this DM level. These results
agree with Ibbotson's (1976) survey which
showed that sulphuric acid/formalin was not
beneficial with silage DM levels below 250 g kg"',
but disagree with those of Crawshaw and Hughes
(1978) who showed slightly lower pH values with
silage DM levels below 230 g kg"'. The latter
results, however, refer to 1976 only, when her-
bage water soluble carbohydrate levels, except in
Northern England, were high, and the weather
dry and warm (Agricultural Development and
Advisory Service, 1977b), i.e. ideal for successful
ensilage without additive use. Under these cir-
cumstances the use of sulphuric acid/formalin
may be expected to be more beneficial than under
more adverse circumstances. In the survey, sul-
phuric acid/formalin was applied at 2-5 1 t"'
herbage which will reduce initial pH to 5-50 under
laboratory conditions (Crawshaw, 1977). In the
field such values are likely to be achieved by
correct application, because sulphuric acid is
non-volatile (Waldo, 1978). Low levels of forma-
lin (2-3 1 f ' ) induce a butyric fermentation
(Wilkinson et al., 1976) by encouraging growth of
clostridia (Wilson and Wilkins, 1978) unless
additional acid is applied. The effectiveness of
sulphuric acid/formalin as an additive, applied at
the rate found in the survey, would therefore
appear to be dependent upon conflicting princi-
ples. It contains insufficient acid to prevent
clostridial activity, and added formalin will
induce a clostridial fermentation unless pH is
sufficiently low to prevent it. Effective preserva-
tion attributed to sulphuric acid and formalin,
therefore, may be dependent upon herbage water
soluble carbohydrate being sufficiently high to
achieve successful fermentation without additive.
Calcium formate and sodium nitrite
Use of this additive, albeit at a highly variable and
lower (15 kg t"') rate than the 18 kg f'
suggested (Agricultural Development and Advi-
sory Service, 1986), produced silages with no
lower ammonia-N or pH values than untreated
silages, particularly at DM levels below 260 g
kg-'. In another survey calcium formate and
sodium nitrite use was shown by Crawshaw and
Hughes (1978) to produce significantly lower pH
values of silage with DM contents below 230 g
kg-'
Similarly Ibbotson (1976) showed it to reduce
pH of silages with average DM of 219 g kg-'
compared with untreated silage. Most work,
however, shows that its use produces little, if any,
benefit compared with untreated silage (Watson
and Nash, 1960; Breirem and Ulvesli, 1960; Lusk,
1978), although Murdoch (1964) claimed its use
considerably improved silage preservation when
small silos were used. The explanation for this
may be that a major problem with solid additives
is that relatively small quantitites are added,
which makes it extremely difficult to ensure
intimate mixing of additive with herbage. Even-
ness of distribution is relatively easy with small
silos, but is a major problem in large-scale
operations on commercial farms. Recently the
manufacturers have developed this additive in
liquid form. This may improve evenness of
distribution, but even when applied at the correct
rate the additive is unlikely to be effective in the
initial stages of ensilage because it does not begin
to function until pH range 4-5-4'8 (Murdoch,
1964), which is above the pH level of 4-4 required
for an additive to be successful in the initial stages
of ensilage (Watson and Nash, 1960).

Acid mixtures
The results of the survey confirm those of Craw-
shaw and Hughes (1978), that organic acid
mixtures appear to produce silage which is no
better on average than that receiving no treat-
ment at all. Their poor performance probably
arises from insufficient application of active
ingredients. This is because the application rates
used in the survey were lower than those recom-
nended by the manufacturers. Even when
applied at the correct rate, however, their effecti-
veness could be low because pH is seldom less
than 5-5 at which high levels of formic and acetic
acid are needed to inhibit clostridial activity
(Woolford, 1975).
Silage additives and DM
The survey showed that with increasing DM,
silage fermentation was improved. Other surveys
have shown similar results. Crawshaw and
Hughes (1978) showed untreated silages of DM
content 250-300 g kg"' to be on average well
fermented and additive treatment improved
neither mean pH nor the proportion of satisfac-
torily preserved silages, although formic acid and
sulphuric acid/formalin use did produce signifi-
cantly lower ammonia-N values when applied at
2-3-2 5 11-'. Ibbotson (1976) showed that addi-
tives had no beneficial effect upon fermentation of
wilted grass (DM concentrations 250 g kg"').
These results show that silage additives do not
always enable production of low DM silages with
low ammonia-N and pH values and that drier
silages produced better results more frequently
than moist silages which relied upon additives
alone. The results disagree with those commonly
published in the literature (McDonald, 1981) that
application of formic acid to unwilted silage was
more beneficial than wilting in enhancing fermen-
tation quality, and that of Corrall et al., (1982)
that the benefit of wilting is overestimated.
The fact that additives appear to perform less
well on commercial farms than in experiments
would tend to implicate the low and variable rates
of application used. However, the relative ineffec-
tiveness of the other additives compared with
formic acid may be inherent in their modes of
action.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the Analytical Chemistry
Silage dry matter and additives
Departments of ADAS at Leeds and Derby for
technical assistance, and is indebted to J. Crai-
gon. Biometry Department, Nottingham Univer-
sity for help with statistical analysis and Dr R.
Wilkins, of the Animal and Grassland Research
Institute, for his helpful discussions of the results.
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