The Influences of Addition of Sugar with or without L. buchneri on Fermentation and Aerobic Stability of Whole Crop Maize Silage Ensiled under Anaerobic Silos

Abstract

The whole plant of crop maize was chopped and ensiled in airtight 1-L capacity glass jars to determine the influence of residual sugar on anaerobic yeast growth and on the fermentation of lactic acid by L. buchneri in whole crop maize silage. There were a total of six treatments used in this experiment as follow: added 25 g de-mineralised water per kg chopped maize serving as control (con), 37.5 g glucose solution containing 12.5 g glucose (g1), 75 g glucose solution containing 25 g glucose (g2), 25 g L. buchneri suspension intended for 10 6 cfu g -1 (L.b.), g1+L.b. and g2+L.b. All silos were stored in the dark at 20°C until end of experiment. Jars were opened on duplicates at day 2, 7, 14, 28, 56 or triplicates at day 91 after ensiling for measuring the pH, microbiological enumeration and fermentative products. Results indicated that acidification rates for all silages were very fast, no difference occurred among treatments before day 28. After day 28 the pH values for silages inoculated by L. buchneri. with or without sugar tended to increase especially for treated only with L. buchneri, resulting in higher (p<0.01) finial pH than uninoculated silages. Compared with control silage, the added sugar significantly (p<0.01) increased dry matter (DM) loss, L. buchneri enhanced (p<0.01) DM loss further at different sugar existence. Silages inoculated by L. buchneri only or in combination with sugar addition contained less (p<0.01) lactic acid than the correspondent silages without inoculation with L. buchneri. In comparison with control, ethanol production is about 3 or 6 fold higher due to addition 12.5 or 25 g glucose per kg chopped maize at ensiling. The added sugar resulted in less acetic acid concentration (p<0.01) than control, but inoculation with L. buchneri increased (p<0.01) acetic acid than correspondent uninoculated silages at different sugar levels. No butyric acid and propionic acid were found in uninoculted silages, silages inoculated with L. buchneri. produced more propionic acid, 1- propanol and butyric acid. Lactobacilli counts were not influenced by added sugar, but increased (p<0.01) with inoculation of L. buchneri. The added sugar increased significantly (p<0.01) the yeast count, whereas L. buchneri showed the contrary effect. No differences were found in the aerobic stability among all treatments. In conclusions, 1) the added sugars encourage the growth of yeast and yeasts convert extra sugar into ethanol in maize silages. 2) The added sugars and L. buchneri do not influence the aerobic stability of silages stored in anaerobic silos. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2002. Vol 15, No. 8 : 1128-1133)