Triticale silage treated or not with homolactic acid bacteria ensiled in laboratory mini-silos

Abstract

In two experiments, we studied the characteristics of ensiling and aerobic stability of triticale (x Triticosecale spp.) ensiled with or without a homolactic bacterial inoculant (HBI). The first experiment used 60 vacuum-sealed 0.946 L glass jar mini-silos (GJ) to determine the effect of ensiling on pH, dry matter recovery (DMR) and temperature. Three GJ per treatment were opened on d 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 14, 30, 105 and 123 of fermentation. Across all lengths of fermentation, inoculation decreased (P<0.05) average silage pH and temperature upon opening the mini-silos but did not influence (P>0.05) DMR versus the Non-HBI silage. Both silages had a similar (P>0.05) pH at the end of 123 d of fermentation. The second experiment compared the nutritional and fermentation characteristics and aerobic stability of triticale ensiled with or without HBI for 123 d in either 3L PVC mini-silos packed manually (PVC) or vacuum-sealed GJ. There was little difference (P>0.05) in silage nutrient content using PVC or GJ mini-silos, nor did inoculation affect these variables. Ensiling triticale decreased (P<0.05) its 30 h neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility, the lowest value being that of Non-HBI/ PVC silage, which differed (P<0.05) from the HBI/PVC silage, but these did not differ (P>0.05) from the GJ silages. Differences among silages were not found (P>0.05) in NDF at 240 h (uNDF240), total tract NDF digestion (TTNDFD) and rate of NDF digestion (NDF_kd). Triticale ensiled well in GJ, however the amount of material ensiled may have been too small to detect differences due to inoculation.