No abstract

A grain combine was modified to produce single-pass, whole-plant corn harvesting with two crop streams, grain and stover. Three corn heads were used: ear-snapper, stalk-gathering and whole-plant. Capture of potential stover DM was 30, 67 and 90% of DM for a combine harvester configured with an earsnapper, stalk-gathering and whole-plant heads, respectively. Stover aggregate moisture was 51.0 and 52.5% (w.b.) for the whole-plant and stalk-gathering heads (front wagon only), respectively. Aggregate moisture of stover from the ear-snapper and stalk-gathering heads (rear wagon only) was 38.5% (w.b.). When the stalk-gathering or whole-plant heads were used, greater stover feedrate limited ground speed, so area capacity was 3.4, 2.2, and 2.0 ha/h, for the ear-snapper, stalk-gathering and whole-plant heads, respectively. Wet and dry bulk density was 163 and 100; 147 and 70; and 80 and 38 kg/m 3 for the earsnapper, stalk-gathering and whole-plant heads, respectively. Fermentation of single-pass stover in a bag silo was very good with DM losses after eight months of storage of 4.1 and 6.7% for the material harvested with the whole-plant and stalk-gathering heads, respectively.