Forage quality and fermentation dynamics of silages of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) wilted for varying periods

Objective: This trial was conducted to explore the impact of different wilting time of Italian ryegrass (IRG) in the field on the nutritional quality and fermentation characteristics of its silage. Methods: The harvested IRG was directly wilted in the field for 0 day (W0), 1 day (W1), 2 days (W2), and 3 days (W3), respectively, and tedded every 6 hours. And the preserved IRG was sampled at 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 45 days after ensiling and three replicates per treatment. Results: With the extension of wilting, the dry matter (DM) content and pH value of wilted IRG gradually increased (p