Effect of Homofermentative Inoculant on Fermentation Characteristics and Nutritive Values of Corn Silage

An in vitro study was planned to assess the effects of a homofermentative microbial inoculant on the fermentation parameters and nutritive value of corn silage. The inoculant was applied at concentrations of 5x10cfu/g of forage (T1), 1x10cfu/g of forage (T2) 1.5x10cfu/g of forage (T3) and a negative control group (T0) without bacterial inoculant in three replicates each. At day 3, 7, 45 and 90 of the experiment individual buckets were opened to characterize the material, quick acidification, dry matter recovery, and aerobic stability of silage respectively. The temperature of the trial samples was 32.75±1.92 throughout the trial duration. A rapid and significant reduction in pH even at third day of trial from 6.5 to 3.61 in the treatment (T2 and T3) groups and remained consistent till 90 day of experiment (with non-significant fluctuations) when compared with control group (6.5 to 5.0). The levels of lactic acid, acetic acid and propionic acids were significantly (P<0.05) higher for treatment groups (i.e. T2 and T3) than the T1 and T0 groups and almost stabilized till 90 day of the trial. A consistency in dry matter contents were observed at 3rd, 7th and 90th day of trial for T2 and T3 treatment groups. As far as the crude protein contents are concerned, a nonsignificant reduction was observed in treatment groups. Overall, inoculant shows nutritive stability and consistency of acids produced at 1x10cfu/g and 1.5x10cfu/g inclusion levels of inoculant.