Abstract
The present study was aimed at investigating the bacterial community in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) suspensions prepared from whole-plant corn silage (LAB suspension-CS) and Elymus sibiricus silage (LAB suspension-ES) and the bacterial community succession of whole-plant corn silages inoculated with LAB suspension-CS or LAB suspension-ES during initial aerobic phase, intense fermentation phase, and stable phase. The LAB suspensions were cultured in sterile Man, Rogosa, Sharpe broth at 37°C for 24 h and used as inoculants for ensiling. The chopped whole-plant corn was treated with distilled water (CK), LAB suspension-CS (CSL), or LAB suspension-ES (ESL) and then ensiled in vacuum-sealed plastic bags containing 500 g of fresh forage. Silages were sampled at 0 h, anaerobic state (A), 3 h, 5 h, 10 h, 24 h, 2 days, 3 days, 10 days, 30 days, and 60 days of ensiling with four replicates for each treatment. The results showed that Lactobacillus, Weissella, and Lachnoclostridium_5 dominated the bacterial community in LAB suspension-CS; Lactobacillus was the most predominant bacterial genus in LAB suspension-ES. During the initial aerobic phase (from 0 h to A) of whole-plant corn silage, the pH and the abundances of Pantoea, Klebsiella, Rahnella, Erwinia, and Serratia increased. During the intense fermentation phase (from A to 3 days), the pH decreased rapidly, and the microbial counts increased exponentially; the most predominant bacterial genus shifted from Pantoea to Weissella, and then to Lactobacillus; inoculating LAB suspensions promoted the bacterial succession and the fermentation process, and LAB suspension-CS was more effective than LAB suspension-ES. During the stable phase (from 3 to 60 days), the pH and the microbial counts decreased, and Lactobacillus dominated the bacterial community with a little decrease. The results also confirmed the existence of LAB fermentation relay during fermentation process, which was reflected by Weissella, Lactococcus, and Leuconostoc in the first 5 h; Weissella, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus between 5 and 24 h; and Lactobacillus from 24 h to 60 days.
Highlights
Ensiling is an effective method for preserving moist forage crops and supplying quality forage to livestock throughout the year (Guan et al, 2018; Zhang et al, 2019)
The objectives of this study were to determine the bacterial community in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) suspensions prepared from whole-plant corn silage and E. sibiricus silage and to characterize the changes in the bacterial community during the initial aerobic phase, intense fermentation phase, and stable phase of the anaerobic fermentation process in whole-plant corn silage inoculated with two different LAB suspensions prepared from whole crop corn and E. sibiricus silages
The silage samples for preparing LAB suspensions were collected from wrapped whole-plant corn silage and wrapped E. sibiricus silage, respectively, on September 5, 2019
Summary
Ensiling is an effective method for preserving moist forage crops and supplying quality forage to livestock throughout the year (Guan et al, 2018; Zhang et al, 2019). Understanding the succession of microorganisms and the correlation between microorganisms and fermentation quality in different phases of fermentation may reveal the fermentation process and provide a scientific basis for modulation of silage fermentation. Whole-plant corn silage is the most common forage for ruminant worldwide because of the good fermentation quality and high nutritional value (Khan et al, 2015; Zhang et al, 2019). Gharechahi et al (2017), Keshri et al (2018), and Xu et al (2020) reported the dynamics of microbial community during the ensiling of whole-plant corn silages treated with LAB or collected from different locations. Little is known regarding the successions of microbial community during the initial aerobic phase and the fermentation relay of LAB during entire fermentation of whole-plant corn silages
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