Application and prospect of whole crop wheat silage in animal production

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the three major grain crops, which plays an important role in ensuring the supply of rations and is also an important supplement to feed grains. The occurrence of natural disasters in some areas caused the reduction of a large area of corn (Zea mays) production and insufficient forage collection and storage in 2021. Consequently, whole wheat silage has become an organic supplement to ruminant feed in spring in the affected areas. In this study, a comparative analysis is conducted on the application status, nutritional characteristics, and feeding value and application in animal production of whole plant wheat silage through induction and deduction. The results show that the wheat production in China is mainly based on seed harvest, and the application of whole plant wheat silage is not extensive, limited to areas with a shortage of high-quality forage such as corn silage, cows, beef cattle, and inadequate forage for livestock such as mutton, sheep, and pigs. Compared with conventional feed crops, whole plant wheat silage has low biological yield, poor nutritional quality before and after silage, poor feeding effect of ruminants, and low economic benefits, which are not conducive to large-scale popularization and application. However, in the south of China, where feed resources are scarce, winter fallow fields can be used for whole plant wheat silage production to alleviate the shortage of local forage. This study analyzes the problem of people and livestock competing for food caused by the current “wheat silage incident” to provide some reference for the three levels of government, society, and enterprises for scientific planning and reasonable layout of the forage industry.