Study of microbial inoculants effect on the quality of corn stover silage planted in different areas in Kelantan

Abstract

Corn stover silage serves as high-energy forage for the ruminant animal as it consists of a relatively high energy content, good digestibility and palatable. The microbial inoculants applied to silage will increase the good bacteria concentration, resulting in a higher lactic acid level, resulting in a quicker drop in the pH. The present study aimed to investigate microbial inoculants’ effects on the quality of corn stover silage planted in different areas in Kelantan. The samples of corn plant collected from PPK Tanah Merah and Agropark, UMK Jeli Campus. Each sample was treated with an effective microorganism (EM) as the treatment with the ratio used was 1: 1: 1»2: 4: 1, for molasses, salt, urea, water and EM. In contrast, the sample with no inoculation of EM served as the control. All samples were ensiled for 21 days to obtain complete fermentation. The chemical composition of the silage determined by proximate analysis. The pH value and physical characteristics of the silage were recorded. All collected data were subjected to analysis of variance. After 21 days, moisture (66.47% and 69.70%) and crude protein (13.8% and 21.2%) content were significantly higher (p<0.05) for both treatment samples from Agro Techno Park (AGPK) Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Persatuan Peladang Kawasan (PPK), Jedok, Tanah Merah compared to the control. The results showed a significantly lower pH value (3.76 –3.81) (p<0.05) for samples treated with EM compared to control. All samples’ physical characteristics expressed a good ranging of quality silage as the texture was firm and not slimy with greenish-brown and yellowish-brown colour with a pleasant odour. There was no presence of mould observed for all samples except for control from AGPK. As a conclusion, the microbial inoculants applied to corn stover silage and fermented for 21 days had improved the moisture and crude protein content and decreased the contamination level, thus improved the quality of corn stover silage.