Effect of inoculants on fermentation parameters and chemical composition in grass and corn silages

Abstract

The effect of three microbial inoculants (Lactobacillus plantarum CCM 4000, L. fermentum LF2, and Enterococcus faecium CCM 4231) on the fermentation and nutritive value of grass and corn silage was studied under laboratory conditions. The chopped corn and orchardgrass were ensiled in 40 plastic jars (1L) divided into four groups (4× 10 per treatment) each. The orchardgrass and whole corn plants (280.0 and 288.3 of DM.kg-1) were cut and ensiled at 21ºC for 105 days. All inoculants were applied at 1.0× 10(9) cfu.mL-1. Non-inoculated silage served as control. Overall, microbial inoculants generally had a positive effect on grass silage characteristics in terms of lower pH and higher lactic acid concentration, and significantly increased the lactic to acetic acid ratio in inoculated silages. The bacterial inoculants were established in the grass silage very well. All corn silages had a low pH (below 3.55) and 83-85% of total silage acids represented by lactic acid after 105 days of ensiling. The inoculants in the corn silages affected corn silage characteristics in terms of significantly higher pH, numerically lower crude protein content and ratio of lactic to acetic acid comparing to control silage. At the end of ensiling, the inoculants were found in the counts less than 1.0 log10 cfu.g-1 in corn silages.