The effect of bacterial inoculant on chemical composition and fermentation of alfalfa silage

Abstract

Alfalfa silage is a useful source of protein for feeding ruminants. Therefore, managing alfalfa silage in livestock production systems is an important issue in order to maintain the silage quality and achieve maximum profitable production of milk and meat. The aim of this investigation was to estimate the effects of bacterial inoculant Silko, containing Lactobacillus plantarum (strains: LP1, LP2, LP3 and LP4) on chemical composition, energetic characteristics and fermentation alfalfa silage under field conditions in the commercial dairy farm, during the 2016. The first-cut alfalfa in the second year has been conserved in silage form. The silage mass was subdivided into two equal parts (control (silage without inoculant) and silages treated with bacterial inoculant Silko) and ensiled in trench silo. After 60 days of ensiling, the silages were analysed. Dry matter, ash, crude protein, lactic acid, acetic acid, total digestible nutrients value and relative feed value were significantly higher in silage treated with bacterial inoculant Silko compared to control. Contrary, alfalfa silage treated with a bacterial inoculant Silko had lower values of cellulose, acid detergent fibre, neutral detergent fibre, nonnitro extractive matter, pH, butyric acid, soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen and NH 3-N/total nitrogen than untreated silage. Results showed that bacterial inoculant Silko increases silage quality compared to control so that research should be directed toward the use of such prepared silage in ruminant diets and its impact on milk and meat production on farms.

Effects of lactic acid bacteria inoculation in pre-harvesting period on fermentation and feed quality properties of alfalfa silage

“…The lowest NDF and ADF from this study were obtained from L. bifermentans (LS6521) and L. plantarum (LS722) with 493.09 g/kg DM and 333.85 g/kg DM, respectively. Inocu lated silages with LAB strains didn't affect the NDF and ADF contents statistically as reported by Przemysław et al [39], Đorđević et al [40], and Ce et al [41].…”

Is It Possible to Improve the Fermentation and Nutritional Quality of Wheat Straw Silage by Replacing Commercial Inoculant with Kefir?

“…It was stated that LAB could degrade NDF and ADF content of forages due to increasing hydrolyzing capacity (Rajabi et al, 2017). Several researchers reported that LAB inoculation with or without enzyme could degrade cellulose into sugars and promote the LAB population, resulting in cell wall losses (Djordjevic et al, 2016;Liu et al, 2016). Moreover, a decrease in cell wall components generally results in higher OMD and ME content of silages.…”