Research progress on technologies for hay making and storage

Hay is one of the important roughages for ruminants, and the high quality hay plays an important role on improving ruminant productivity. In resent years, the technologies regarding hay making methods and storage have drawn the attention over the world. The hay making technique mainly includes the mechanical and chemical treatments, the former is to squish the grass stem by mechanical power and the later is to break down cutin on epidermis of stem and leaf. Both of the treatments are to accelerate moisture dissipate and shorten the drying time and decrease the nutrients loss during hay making. Hay storage technique is to prevent deleterious decay with chemical or biologic treatments and improve the hay quality.