Joint International Conference on Long-term Experiments ...

2. The influence of
using inoculants in corn
ensiling on the fattening
performances of bull
calves.
Structure of the ration (% of DM)
Corn silage - 50
Alfalfa hay – 10
Concentrates* - 40
Corn silage - 50
Alfalfa hay – 10
Concentrates* - 40
- evolution of
weight gain;
- consumption of
DM;
- degree of food
capitalization;
- metabolic
indices in the blood;
- ruminal
parametres (pH , no.
of bacteria/ml,
structure of AGV);
-the quality of the
carcass and meat.
* Mixture of concentrates composed of : corn, barley, soy bean groats, sunflower groats and
cereal-vitamin premix. It ensured 19.8% Pb in the 3-6 months period, 17.5% Pb. in the 6-12
months period and 15.4% in the 12-17 months period.
At the end of the experiment, control slaughterings were performed (n=3), establishing
the main butchery indices. The obtained data was processed and interpreted statistically
by using the ‘Student’ test.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The use of the homofermentative lactic acid bacteria based inoculant for ensiling corn,
resulted in a forage having nutritional qualities superior to the one obtained through
natural fermentation (table 2), because the inoculant determined a rapid reduction of the
pH in the forage, which led to the quick reduction of the level of Coliform bacteria, thus
reducing the proteolysis process. This aspect is emphasized by the lower level of
ammoniacal N and the higher level of whole protein in the inoculant treated forage.
Moreover, the inoculant caused a significant decrease in the level of raw cellulose and a
rise in the quantity of lactic acid (g/kg DM).
Table 2: The effect of the inoculant (Lactobacillus plantarum + Pediococcus
pentosaceus) on the quality of the corn silage
Parameters
Control lot
(GC)
Experimental
lot (GE)
Changes due to
the inoculant
treatment (%)
DM (%) 33.75 34.19 + 1.30
pH 4.4 3.8* + 13.64
Raw protein (g/kg DM) 79.2 87.5* + 10.47
Ammoniacal N (%of total N) 6.2 4.1** - 33.88
Raw cellulose (% of DM) 26.9 23.8* - 11.53
Lactic acid (g/kg DM) 128.4 135.2* + 5.29
* p< 0.05; ** p