Abstract

Th purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in environmental impact from three types of silage (silage from tower silo, bunker silo and round-bales) used in Swedish dairy production. The silage was studied from ley cultivation, via harvesting and silage making up to and including delivery at the feeding table. The environmental impact categories studied were: energy use, global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP). The results showed only small differences between the studied silage alternatives, with round-bale silage as the most energy efficient and tower silage as the least contributing to GWP, AP and EP. Ley cultivation was the dominant source to GWP, AP and EP for all alternatives. For energy use, the subsequent silage handling chain was more important, including a surprisingly high energy use for producint silage agents. A sensitivity analysis indicated that losses can have a large impact on the environmental outcome of silage production, and that the systems therefore should be optimized to reduce losses

Published in

Rapport (Mat 21)
2007, number: 3
ISBN: 978-91-576-7215-5
Publisher: SLU

Authors' information