Effects of Lactobacillus buchneri inoculation or 1-propanol supplementation to corn silage on the performance of lactating Holstein cows

Janielen Da Silva,Luiz Gustavo Nussio,Niels Bastian Kristensen,Maximiliano Henrique De Oliveira Pasetti,Pedro Augusto Ribeiro Salvo,João Luiz Pratti Daniel,João Pedro Pereira Winckler

doi:10.1590/s1806-92902017000700006

Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective was to evaluate the effects of corn silage supplemented with 1-propanol or inoculated with L. buchneri on the ruminal fermentation profile, digestibility, and production traits of lactating Holstein cows. Whole-corn plants were harvested at 350 g/kg dry matter (DM) and packed in nine bag silos (13 t/silo). At ensiling, two treatments were applied: control (no additive; six silos) and L. buchneri inoculation with 1 × 105 cfu/g (three silos). Feeding started after 247 days of storage; one [...]

Highlights

Whole crop corn is an easy forage to ensile and efficiently preserved under anaerobic conditions, whereas corn silage is highly prone to deterioration upon air exposure
It is commonly observed that silages with heterofermentative fermentation patterns have more complex headspace-profiles than silages dominated by lactic acid fermentation (Kristensen et al, 2010), leading to an intense debate among researchers and field consultants on the possible negative effects of silages with high concentrations of volatile compounds on the performance of dairy cows (Raun and Kristensen, 2010; Weiss et al, 2016)
We have recently demonstrated that silages inoculated with high doses of L. buchneri depress the dry matter (DM) intake and milk yield of lactating dairy cows (Kleinshmitt et al, 2013)

Summary

Introduction

Whole crop corn is an easy forage to ensile and efficiently preserved under anaerobic conditions, whereas corn silage is highly prone to deterioration upon air exposure. The low aerobic stability is associated with high content of lactic acid and soluble sugars and low concentration of fermentation-end products with antifungal capability (Muck, 2010) Heterofermentative bacteria, such as Lactobacillus buchneri, have been studied to improve the aerobic stability of corn silages, because they synthetize significant amounts of acetic acid (Kleinschmit and Kung, 2006). The metabolism of lactic acid by L. buchneri produces 1,2-propanediol (Oude Elferink et al, 2001), which can be further converted to 1-propanol and propionic acid by Lactobacillus diolivorans (Krooneman et al, 2002) Both acetic acid and propionic acid have antifungal action (Moon, 1983) and, can be effective to improve the aerobic stability of silages. A positive correlation between 1-propanol and heterofermentation has been previously reported (Raun and Kristensen, 2010)

Objectives

Methods

Results