Table 5. Effect of harvest and wilting time on organic acid composition and quality grade of rye silage

Harvest date	Wilting period¹⁾	pH	LA (g/kg DM)	AA (g/kg DM)	PA (g/kg DM)	BA (g/kg DM)	LA / AA	Flieg’s score²⁾	Grade
April 30 (Boot)	0 h	4.61^c	4.43^a	0.55^b	3.00^a	10.27^a	6.85^a	51^a	Average
	6 h	4.75^b	1.53^b	0.73^b	2.27^a	10.33^a	2.09^c	52^a	Average
	24 h	5.00^a	3.80^a	1.25^a	3.00^a	4.57^b	3.05^b	52^a	Average
	Mean	4.79^B	3.25^B	0.84^B	2.76^B	8.39^A	4.00^A	51^B	-
May 9 (Heading)	0 h	4.24^b	8.83^a	4.73^a	0.67^a	0.00^a	1.87^b	67^b	Good
	6 h	4.43^b	10.20^a	4.03^ab	0.23^a	0.00^a	2.59^ab	66^b	Good
	24 h	4.68^a	10.07^a	3.30^b	0.45^a	0.00^a	3.05^a	77^a	Good
	Mean	4.45^C	9.70^A	4.02^A	0.83^C	0.00^C	2.50^B	70^A	-
May 15 (Blooming)	0 h	5.28^c	2.15^a	5.20^a	4.00^b	9.00^a	0.33^b	26^a	Fair
	6 h	5.78^b	2.87^a	3.70^a	5.53^a	6.75^b	0.64^a	27^a	Fair
	24 h	6.40^a	2.50^a	4.60^a	4.80^ab	0.80^c	0.55^a	12^b	Poor
	Mean	5.82^A	2.51^B	4.80^A	4.78^A	5.52^B	0.56^C	22^C	-
SEM		0.13	0.57	0.34	0.30	0.18	2.47	5.8	-
p-value	H	< .0001	< .0001	< .0001	< .0001	< .0001	< .0001	< .0001	-
	W	< .0001	0.3863	0.0546	0.3574	< .0001	< .0001	0.6022	-
	H × W	0.0006	0.0097	0.0529	0.1632	< .0001	< .0001	0.0004	-

0 h, no wilting before ensiling; 6 h, wilted for 6 hours before ensiling; 24 h, wilted for 24 hours before ensiling.
Flieg’s scores (0–100) were ranked into five grades: Poor (0–20), Fair (21–40), Average (41–60), Good (61–80), and Excellent (81–100).
Within a column, different superscripts in capital letters indicate that main plots differ;
those in lower-case letters indicate that sub-plots differ (p < 0.05).
LA, lactic acid; AA, acetic acid; PA, propionic acid; BA, butyric acid; H, Harvest date; W, wilting.