Bacterial inoculant effect on quality of alfalfa silage and haylage

Abstract

Using of silage and haylage of forage legumes in ruminant nutrition and promotion of promoting proper forage conservation techniques should be an important strategy in livestock production in our country. Forage legumes are difficult to ensile, so it is necessary to apply the starter culture of selected strains of lactic acid bacteria that support the ensiling process and prevent bacterial butyric fermentation and thus contribute to the preservation and improvement of silage and haylage quality. In this paper, the influence of bacterial inoculant ‘Silko for alfalfa’ on the quality of silage and haylage of alfalfa in two separate trials is presented. The inoculant is a combination of homofermentative lactic bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus spp. The first-cut alfalfa in the second year was used for silage and haylage. The silage was examined in mini-silos in the laboratory, and the haylage at the cattle farm where the plant material was cuts were collected in experimental silo bags. The treatments were control (untreated silage, i.e. haylage) and silage, i.e. haylage treated with inoculant ‘Silko for alfalfa’ (rate of 5 ml/t fresh material). The silages were analyzed after 90 days, and haylage after 40. The inoculant ‘Silko for alfalfa’ has been found to maintain the nutritive value of silage and haylage and to improve their chemical, energy and fermentation parameters relative to the control. Since ‘Silko for alfalfa’ positively affects the correct lactic acid fermentation of silage and haylage and contributes to a lesser loss of nutritional value and energy it is expected that it can promote a high level of productivity of ruminants, and thus contribute to the growth of profit in livestock production.

Važna strategija u stočarstvu treba da bude uvođenje silaža i senaža krmnih leguminoza u ishranu preživara i promovisanje pravilnih tehnika siliranja i senažiranja. Krmne leguminoze se teško siliraju pa je neophodno primeniti starter kulture odabranih sojeva bakterija mlečne kiseline koje podržavaju proces siliranja i sprečavaju buternu fermentaciju i time doprinose očuvanju i unapređenju kvaliteta silaža. U radu je prikazan uticaj primene bakterijskog inokulnata ‘Silko za lucerku’ na kvalitet silaže i senaže u dva odvojena eksperimenta. Inokulant predstavlja kombinaciju homofermentativnih mlečnih bakterija Lactobacillus plantarum i Pediococcus spp. Za siliranje su korišćeni prvi otkosi lucerke u drugoj godini eksploatacije. Silaža je ispitivana u mini-silosima u laboratoriji, a senaža u silo vrećama na govedarskoj farmi. Tretmani su bili kontrola (netretirana silaža, odnosno senaža) i silaža, odnosno senaža tretirana sa inokulantom ‘Silko za lucerku’ (doza 5 ml/t krme). Silaže pripremljene u eksperimentalnim uslovima su analizirane nakon 90 dana, a senaže dobijene u proizvodnim uslovima nakon 40 dana. Ustanovljeno je da korišćeni inokulant čuva nutritivnu vrednost silaže i senaže i da poboljšava njihove hemijske, energetske i fermentacione parametre u odnosu na kontrolu. S obzirom da ispitivani inokulant pozitivno utiče na pravilnu mlečno-kiselinsku fermentacju silaže i senaže lucerke i doprinosi manjem gubitku hranljive vrednosti i energije za očekivati je da može promovisati visok nivo produktivnosti preživara, a samim tim i doprineti rastu profita u stočarstvu.