Abstract
Winter wheat is a suitable crop to be ensiled for animal feed and China has the largest planting area of this crop in the world. During the ensiling process, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play the most important role in the fermentation. We investigated the natural population of LAB in whole-crop wheat (WCW) and examined the quality of whole-crop wheat silage (WCWS) with and without LAB inoculants. Two Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum strains, Zhengzhou University 1 (ZZU 1) selected from corn and forage and grass 1 (FG 1) from a commercial inoculant, were used as additives. The silages inoculated with LAB strains (ZZU 1 and FG 1) were better preserved than the control, with lower pH values (3.5 and 3.6, respectively) (p<0.05) and higher contents of lactic acid (37.5 and 34.0 g/kg of fresh matter (FM), respectively) (p<0.05) than the control. Sixty LAB strains were isolated from fresh material and WCWS without any LAB inoculation. These LAB strains were divided into the following four genera and six species based on their phenotypic, biochemical and phylogenetic characteristics: Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Leuconostoc citreum, Weissella cibaria, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactobacillus buchneri, and Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum. However, the prevalent LAB, which was predominantly heterofermentative (66.7%), consisted of Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Leuconostoc citreum, Weissella cibaria, and Lactobacillus buchneri. This study revealed that most of isolated LAB strains from control WCWS were heterofermentative and could not grow well at low pH condition; the selective inoculants of Lactobacillus strains, especially ZZU 1, could improve WCWS quality significantly.
Highlights
Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most popular crops in the world, including China, which is the largest producer that produced almost 111 million tons of this crop every year in the world
As the crop can be grown in a wide range of climates and soil conditions, and has relative high contents of dry matter (DM) and water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) which could improve ensiling process
The crude protein content of silage prepared with whole-crop wheat (WCW) in milkripe stage was 1% to 2% higher than that of whole corn silage, while neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) were close
Summary
Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most popular crops in the world, including China, which is the largest producer that produced almost 111 million tons of this crop every year in the world. As the crop can be grown in a wide range of climates and soil conditions, and has relative high contents of dry matter (DM) and water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) which could improve ensiling process Some countries, such as northern Europe, began to explore the feeding value as the whole-crop wheat silage. Coliform bacteria were counted on blue light broth have been developed, because LAB inoculants are safe and agar (Nissui-Seiyaku Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan), incubated at easy to apply, non-corrosive to machine, do not pollute the 30°C for 48 h. Bacilli and aerobic bacteria were counted faecium have been developed and are available (Cai et al, on nutrient agar (Nissui Ltd., Japan), incubated at 30°C for. Pure cultures were fresh wheat material, especially the inhabited LAB, which grown on MRS agar at 30°C for 24 h, and the purified determines whether inoculant needs to be used. Morphological, physiological and biochemical tests of LAB morphology and Gram-staining response were
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