Short Communication: Prediction of Mean Particle Size and Proportion of Very Long Fiber Particles from Simplified Sieving Results

Mean particle size of alfalfa silage and corn silage can be predicted based on material retained above a screen with square-hole diagonal of 9 mm. The regression equation is mean particle length (mm) = 1.16 + 13.00 × cumulative fraction of as-fed mass trapped on or above the 9-mm screen; r2 = 0.89. For mixed rations, the intercept was 0.54 and the slope 11.84, with r2 = 0.78. Using data from the screen with a 5.6-mm diagonal also provided reasonable estimates of mean particle size.