DOI: 10.36347/sjavs.2016.v03i07.005

Pages: 474-479

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the yield of forage, silage and nutrients composition of maize. The maize seeds were planted in plots of 12 m x 5 m (60 m2) size with three replications. The results showed that, there was no significant ( P > 0.05) difference between for plant height and number of leaves at 4, 6,8 and 10 weeks after sowing (WAS), but leaf area index ( LAI) was significantly ( P < 0.05) higher at 6 and 10 WAS. The number of leaves per plant, green leaves and forage dry matter yield at 70 DAS and 97 DAS were not significant (P > 0.05). Leaf area and fresh forage yield were significant (P < 0.05) in harvest stage of 70 DAS .There were no significant (P > 0.05) difference in ash and ether extract (EE) contents of maize at each stage of harvest. The percentage of crude protein (CP) and nitrogen free extract (NFE) were higher (P < 0.05) in 70 DAS than the harvest stage of 97 DAS. The proximate components (Ash and CP) were significantly (p < 0.01) higher in silage, but NFE was higher (P < 0.05) in forage. The calcium (Ca) content was significantly (P < 0.01) higher in silage than the nutrients composition of forage. The study showed that the proximate nutrients composition of silage was preferable than the forage.