Seed Survival in Silage: Data from 90 Years of Research

This data set is a compilation of all data available in the literature on the survival of plant seeds during ensiling. A total of 23 publications have documented research on this topic to date (10.01.2025). The measures “survival”, “survival probability”, “viability” and “germination” were considered as seed viability response for data extraction.

The literature search was conducted using the platforms Scopus (https://www.scopus.com), Web of Science (https://www.webofscience.com) and Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.de/). The following keywords were searched for: seed, seeds, silage, ensiling, silage, survival, probability of survival, viability, and germination.

From each study, seed viability data per species were extracted from tables, figures, or text. If more than one replicate was available, means or medians were extracted. If both germination and viability were provided, viability data were selected and it was noted (in the repository) that germination data were available. Sample sizes and measures of variance such as standard deviations from the mean were not extracted. This approach yielded a total of 610 seed viability values from the available studies. For the comparison of the studies, the viability responses were normalized to those of the untreated controls. For this purpose, the viability response of the control was set to 100% and the responses of the treatments were converted in proportion to this. In cases where no viability data were provided for the controls, a viability of 100 % was assumed.

The following parameters and variables were compiled for each study: Species name, seed lot characteristics if provided, plant family, plant class, potential to form physically dormant (hardseeded seeds), seed viability response, type of viability response, normalized viability response, percentage of loss of viability, survival (YES/NO), silo scale, silo type, ensiled substrates, information on chopping or wilting of the substrate, dry matter contents, pH values, any ensiling modifications, ensiling temperature and duration, and notes. The plant species´ names and family affiliations have been updated to the current taxonomy (according to https://www.gbif.org/, accessed on 10.01.2025). The silo scale was classified as either lab-scale (e.g. plastic bags, glass jars, laboratory silos) or full-scale (e.g. on-farm silo bales and stacks).

Excerpt from the data set showing the main compiled data.