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Evaluation of Corn Silage Treated with Microbial Additives

University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108^{1 ,2,}

Abstract

The fermentation of microbially-treated corn silage was evaluated in laboratory silos that were designed to simulate the internal conditions of field-scale silos. Duplicate silos of control and two levels (4.5 x 10⁷ and 22.5 x 10⁷ live organisms per kilogram wet silage) of Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus brevis, Streptococcus lactis and Streptococcus cremoris were included. Aspergillus oryzae was added at two levels, although numbers of organisms were not counted. Dry matter (DM) and crude protein contents of the silage averaged 32.0% and 3.0% (9.4% on DM basis), respectively. Recoveries of DM and crude protein were not affected by inoculation. Nonprotein nitrogen levels tended to be increased by the higher levels of added organisms. However, values for treated silages did not differ significantly from those for controls. All microbial treatments tended to increase NH₃ -N levels, with L. bulgaricus, S. lactis and S. cremoris resulting in higher (P<.05) NH₃-N levels (7.4 to 7.6% of total N) than controls (5.9% of total N). Lactic acid, acetic acid and ethanol concentrations were not affected by microbial treatment. It appeared that time required to complete 95% of total gas production was decreased by A. oryzae, L. acidophilus and S. lactis. Cell wall constituents, acid detergent fiber and pH were not significantly affected by level or type of organism. A commercial live bacterial silage additive that contained Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Aspergillus oryzae and mixed lactic ferment enzymes did not improve the feedlot performance of steers or digestibility in lambs fed corn silage. Results from these trials show that the added organisms increased protein degradation and did not result in higher quality corn silage.

¹ Dept. of Anim. Sci.

² Paper No. 10883 of the Scientific Journal Series of the Minnesota Agr. Exp. Sta.