THE EFFECT OF A PROPIONIC ACID BACTERIAL INOCULANT APPLIED AT ENSILING, WITH OR WITHOUT LACTIC ACID BACTERIA, ON THE AEROBIC STABILITY OF PEARL MILLET AND MAIZE SILAGES

摘要

The effect of applying a new strain of Propionibacterium shermanii (PS), alone or with lactic acid bacteria inoculants (LAB) at ensiling, on the aerobic stability of pearl millet and maize silages was studied under laboratory conditions. The LAB inoculants comprised of Pediococcus pentosaceus (PP) in the experiments with millet, and PP + Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) in various combinations in the experiments with maize. The inoculants (made by Lallemand, France) were applied each at 0.5 x 10(6) cfu g(-1). Silages with no additives served as controls. The pearl millet used was either fresh, or wilted for 2 or 4 d (at 201, 268 and 448 g DM kg(-1), respectively). There were two experiments with maize (at 401 and 353 g DM kg(-1)). After treatment, the chopped forages were ensiled in 1.5-1 anaerobic jars. Three jars per treatment were sampled on days 2, 5, 10 and 90. At the end of the experiments, the silages were subjected to an aerobic stability test lasting 6 d, in which CO2 production was measured along with chemical and microbiological parameters, to evaluate aerobic deterioration.