Hay-making is one of the most common forage preservation practices in livestock operations. The objective of hay-making is to minimize nutrient loss by shortening field drying time. Measuring the impacts of cutting height of forage crop is necessary to optimize hay production balancing yield and quality, in order to obtain substantial biomass increase through harvest of regrowth. This experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of cutting height of rye (Secale cereale L.) on drying rate and hay quality. Heading stage rye was harvested at 8cm or 15cm stubble heights. Hay was daily tedded at 09:00 and sampled at 09:00, 13:00 and 17:00 to determine moisture content (MC). After two month of preservation, CP (crude protein), ADF (acid detergent fiber), NDF (neutral detergent fiber), IVDMD (in vitro dry matter disappearance), TDN (total digestible nutrient), RFV (relative feed value), DM (dry matter) loss, visual scores and total fungi count were determined for estimation of hay quality. Cutting height at 15cm could enhance the drying rate and CP content (p<0.05), but also increases DM loss (p<0.05) compared to cutting at 8cm. Cutting heights did not affect ADF, NDF, IVDMD, TDN and RFV value (p>0.05). Visual scores of rye hays cutting at 8cm and 15cm, ranged from 83 to 85. Cutting at 8cm tended to maintain higher core bale temperature and fungal count than cutting at 15cm during preservation, but there was no significant difference.

• Yu Wei Li(Graduated School of International Agricultural Technology, SNU)
• Jong Geun Kim(Research Institute of Eco-friendly Livestock Science, GBST, SNU) Corresponding author