Each year the nitrogen of hay and wilted
silage was digested to a greater extent than
that of low-moisture silage. These results are
in agreement with those of previous studies
(19, 30, 36). Several reports (5, 25, 28) have
shown that the digestibility of protein is low-
ered in silage that has undergone high tempera-
tures during storage. Deleterious heating has
been suggested as an explanation for the lower
protein digestibility of low-moisture silage (19).
Differences in nitrogen solubility between wilted
silage and low-moisture silage may account for
differences in nitrogen digestibility of these
silages. Greater concentrations of ammoniacal
nitrogen in wilted silage than in low-moisture
silage (Table 2) indicate that the nitrogen of
wilted silage is more soluble than that of low-
moisture silage.