“…The mechanical processing of corn plants, especially those harvested at late maturities, during harvest is an effective strategy for improving the digestibility of silage (Hara & Tanigawa, 2010) as it breaks the pericarp and exposes the starch granules of the grain. In addition, physical processing also damages the vegetative part of the plant, increasing fiber degradation and significantly improving the quality of the silage (Silveira, Nardi, Silveira, & Costa, 2014).…”