The effects of three silage inoculants on aerobic stability in grass, clover-grass, lucerne and maize silages

Abstract

The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of homofermentative and heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculants on fermentation and aerobic stability in a variety of crops and dry matter concentrations. The experiments were conducted with lucerne, ryegrass, ryegrass-timothy, red clover-ryegrass and whole crop maize using three additives in laboratory scale conditions. Each treatment and crop was replicated 5 five times when determining the chemical composition and aerobic stability in the silage. The data were statistically analyzed as a randomized complete block by using the GLM procedure of SAS. Additive application reduced pH and formation of butyric acid, alcohols and ammonia-N in all crops compared with the untreated silage (p < 0.05). The use of additives increased the content of lactic acid except heterofermentative LAB in maize with 276 g kg-1 DM and increased the content of acetic acid except homofermentative LAB in ryegrass-timothy and maize with 276 g kg-1 DM compared with the untreated silage (p < 0.05). It was observed that the aerobic stability of silages was improved significantly (p < 0.05) by using homofermentative and heterofermentative LAB inoculants.