Abstract
In this work, the quality of hay harvested with different harvesters and bailed in different shapes was investigated. In addition, the fuel consumption of the methods were evaluated. Harvesting was achieved by using a mower and a disc mower with conditioner. The forage was baled in shape of cylindrical and prismatic by the bale machines. The mixture of caramba+berseem clover was used as forage material. The tests were carried out according to split block design with three replications.
The quality of the material was evaluated in terms of dry matter (DM), pH, crude protein (CP), asit detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Also, the fuel consumption of machines was compared. The type of harvester was found to be statically significant on pH (p≤.05) and fuel consumption (p≤.01). The bale machine was significantly effective on DM (P≤.01), bale weight (P≤.01), fuel consumption (P≤.01), CP (P≤.05) and ADF (P≤.05). The method of prismatic baled after harvesting with mower gave better results in terms of both quality and cost.
