Variations in fermentation, bacterial population and aerobic stability in maize silage

Abstract

Whole crop maize in dough stage physiological maturity of grain (387 g kg-1 dry matter) was ensiled in big (1.2 m diameter × 1.2 m height) bales and in 3-litre mini silos with either viable lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculant Lactococcus lactis and Lactobacillus buchneri or without any additives. Silos were opened after 120 days, silage was sampled and the nutrient composition, fermentation products and microbial colony counts were determined. Big bale and laboratory silage was exposed to air, and aerobic stability was determined. Significant variation was observed between inoculant treated and untreated big bales, and inoculant treated and untreated laboratory silage. Viable LAB caused reduction in acidity (pH) value, a decrease in dry matter (DM) loss, concentrations of butyrate, ammonia nitrogen (NH 3-N) and alcohols, and an increase in the concentrations of lactic and acetic acids in both big bale and laboratory silage. Inoculated silage had lower counts of yeasts and moulds after ensiling and after air exposure, which improved their aerobic stability relative to the untreated silage. The untreated silage had a relatively large proportion of visibly spoiled silage at the surface of the big bales. The similarities observed between the big bale and laboratory silage showed that small scale silage can serve as a model for big bale silage and can be used to test the efficacy of silage additives in laboratory conditions.

Effect of inoculants of different composition on the quality of rye silages harvested at different stages of maturity

“…The homofermentative LAB treatment (T1) resulted in the lowest DM losses among all inoculant treatments during the storage period. Our previous observations (Jatkauskas et al 2018) and results reported by other authors (Basso et al 2014, Borreani et al 2018 confirm the findings of this study. According to Schmidt and Kung (2010) and Muck et al (2018), homofermentative LAB usually promote lactic acid fermentation by shifting fermentation products towards lactic acid and away from ethanol and acetic acid fermentation products with a decreased DM loss as the main benefit.…”

Effects of Lactic Acid Bacteria Additives on the Quality, Volatile Chemicals and Microbial Community of Leymus chinensis Silage During Aerobic Exposure

“…The silage undergoes aerobic exposure during collection, during which the LB group had the best aerobic stability and was significantly more stable than the other groups, which indicates that the presence of Lactobacillus buchneri could effectively improve the aerobic stability of the silage. Similarly, Jatkauskas et al (2018) andda Silva et al (2019) showed that Lactobacillus buchneri could improve the aerobic stability of silage through the production of acetic acid. The LP group had the worst aerobic stability, which could be due to the yeasts using lactic acid produced by Lactobacillus plantarum to generate heat during growth and reproduction (Ranjit and Kung, 2000).…”

Effects of harvest date and additives on maize silage quality under boreal conditions

“…The responses to lactic acid bacteria inoculants are variable and depend at least on the quality and quantity of the epiphytic flora as well as the added strains, the availability of substrates and temperature, that affect the viability of the inoculants. Some experiments have reported significant improvements in maize silage fermentation quality in response to lactic acid bacteria inoculation (Hu et al 2009, Jatkauskas et al 2018, while Partti (2019) reported even decreased fermentation quality, and in the current experiment, no effects were observed. The responses to lactic acid bacteria have been variable also for grass silages under Finnish conditions as in some cases improvements were noticed (Franco et al 2022a, Franco and while in other cases not (Franco et al 2022b.…”