Whole plant silage
Whole plant silage ( GPS ) is a green fodder preserved through fermentation ( ensiling ) or is used as a starting material ( substrate ) for the production of biogas . The entire aboveground biomass of the plant is harvested. The term is mainly used in relation to silages made from cereals and large-seeded legumes .
Examples and delimitation
As a rule, whole-plant silage is the term used for fermentation feed made from cereal plants and large-seeded legumes , but not grass and clover silages, although these are included in the definition of "silage made from the entire above-ground parts of a plant". Examples of whole plant silages are rye GPS, barley GPS or GPS from mixtures of species such as oat-barley-pea GPS. In the case of maize silage , the term whole-plant silage is used to emphasize the difference to a silage made from parts of the maize plant (cobs, corn-cob mix ).
generation
The plants are harvested when the dough is ripe, with dry matter contents of 35 to 40 percent. They are usually shredded with the forage harvester when they are harvested . The harvested material is stored in silos in the absence of air . The naturally occurring lactic acid fermentation preserves the plant parts. Because of the comparatively low nitrate content in the silage, butyric acid fermentation , which is disadvantageous for preservation, can also occur, so that silage additives are often used in GPS preparation .
| material | Biogas yield in m 3 per ton of fresh mass |
Methane content |
|---|---|---|
| Corn silage | 202 | 52% |
| Grass silage | 172 | 54% |
| Rye GPS | 163 | 52% |
| Pressed sugar beet pulp ensiled |
125 | 52% |
| Fodder beet | 111 | 51% |
| Biowaste | 100 | 61% |
| Chicken litter | 80 | 60% |
| Pig manure | 60 | 60% |
| Cattle manure | 45 | 60% |
| Grain Meat | 40 | 61% |
| Pig manure | 28 | 65% |
| Cattle manure | 25th | 60% |
use
GPS is used as basic feed for ruminants such as cattle. Occasionally it also supplements the feed rations of other livestock species (e.g. breeding sows). In addition, whole plant silage is used as a substrate in biogas plants. Compared to maize silage , the most widely used biogas substrate, whole plant silage achieves, on average, lower biogas yields per hectare of cultivated area, but enables risk diversification in cultivation and the expansion of crop rotations in substrate cultivation . Depending on the location, whole plant silage can reach or even exceed the methane yields of maize. Whole -crop grain silages use almost half of the biogas plants in Germany as a fermentation substrate , but mostly only to a small extent: GPS silages made from grain make up only eight percent of the mass of renewable raw materials used .
supporting documents
- ↑ Jeroch, Heinz; Drochner, Winfried and Simon, Ortwin, 1999: Nutrition of agricultural livestock, Ulmer Verlag, p. 276, ISBN 3800110865
- ↑ Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e. V. (FNR): Biogas basic data Germany. (PDF; as of October 2008). Source for all information except for pressed pulp.
- ↑ Biogas yields of different substrates, division potatoes / beets lfl.bayern.de, see pressed pulp ensiled .
- ↑ Katja Gödecke, Arlett Nehring, Armin Vetter, 2007: The clever way to cultivate energy crops. In: Forum New Power 3/2007 , p. 34ff.
- ↑ P. Weiland: Technical requirements for the fermentation of energy crops. ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 915 kB) Presentation at the DECHEMA Bioenergy Conference, Güstrow, 8. – 9. March 2009.
- ↑ Institute for Energy and Environment , 2008: Monitoring the effect of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) on electricity generation from biomass. Final report on behalf of the BMU, p. 54. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Tips for the preparation of high quality whole plant silage (GPS) in organic farming (Office for Agriculture and Forests, Regensburg; PDF; 15 kB)