Resumen de Modelling a quantitative ensilability index adapted to forages from wet temperate areas

Adela Martínez Fernández, Ana Belén Soldado Cabezuelo, María Begoña de la Roza Delgado, M. A. González Arrojo, Alejandro Argamentería Gutiérrez

• Forage ensilability mainly depends on dry matter (DM), water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) and buffer capacity (BC) values at harvest time. According to these parameters, and based on a collection of 208 forages of known ensilability characteristics including short and long term meadows for grazing, italian ryegrass, maize, triticale, soybean, faba bean crops, and samples coming from cereal-legume associations, the objective of this study has been to define a quantitative ensilability index (EI) based on a relationship between DM, WSC and BC contents at harvest date, adapted to the characteristics of fodder from wet temperate areas. For this purpose, a discriminant procedure was used to define this EI based on a linear combination of DM, WSC and BC of forages at harvest time. The quantitative calculated indexes distinguish five successive ranges of ensilability: high ensilability (EI > +28), medium high ensilability (+9 < EI . +28), medium ensilability (.28 < EI . +9), medium low ensilability (.47 . EI . .28) and low ensilability (EI < .47). This quantitative index was externally evaluated and 100% of samples were successfully classified.