Characteristics and compositional change in round and square switchgrass bales stored in South Central Oklahoma

Storage studies were conducted in 2009 and 2010 on large round (1.83 m × 1.53 m) and square (1.22 m × 1.22 m × 2.44 m) switchgrass bales stored for 6 months. Round and square bales were stored outside under different conditions: tarped (on pallets, gravel and ground) and untarped (on pallets, gravel and ground). Round and square bales were also stored inside and served as a control treatment. During both years, outside tarped bales resisted moisture accumulation and thus dry matter losses were equivalent to bales stored inside. The average dry matter loss for the round and square bales stored inside was 0.6% compared to 0.9 and 2.8% for the tarped round and square bales stored outside, respectively. However, untarped round (11.3%) and square (32.7%) bales on an average had greater dry matter loss than the tarped round (0.9%) and square (2.8%) bales. The untarped square bales consistently had higher moisture contents than untarped round bales which resulted in greater dry matter loss in untarped square bales. Hemicellulose content was more severely affected than cellulose content during storage. In 2010, untarped square bales stored on gravel, ground and pallets lost 30%, 24% and 16% of hemicellulose content, respectively.