• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제26권9호
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• pp.1304-1312
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• 2013

The effects of storage period and aerobic deterioration on the bacterial community were examined in Italian ryegrass (IR), guinea grass (GG), and whole-crop maize (WM) silages. Direct-cut forages were stored in a laboratory silo for 3, 7, 14, 28, 56, and 120 d without any additives; live counts, content of fermentation products, and characteristics of the bacterial community were determined. 2,3-Butanediol, acetic acid, and lactic acid were the dominant fermentation products in the IR, GG, and WM silages, respectively. The acetic acid content increased as a result of prolonged ensiling, regardless of the type of silage crop, and the changes were distinctively visible from the beginning of GG ensiling. Pantoea agglomerans, Rahnella aquatilis, and Enterobacter sp. were the major bacteria in the IR silage, indicating that alcoholic fermentation may be due to the activity of enterobacteria. Staphylococcus sciuri and Bacillus pumilus were detected when IR silage was spoiled, whereas between aerobically stable and unstable silages, no differences were seen in the bacterial community at silo opening. Lactococcus lactis was a representative bacterium, although acetic acid was the major fermentation product in the GG silage. Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis, and Morganella morganii were suggested to be associated with the increase in acetic acid due to prolonged storage. Enterobacter cloacae appeared when the GG silage was spoiled. In the WM silage, no distinctive changes due to prolonged ensiling were seen in the bacterial community. Throughout the ensiling, Weissella paramesenteroides, Weissella confusa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were present in addition to L. plantarum, L. brevis, and L. lactis. Upon deterioration, Acetobacter pasteurianus, Klebsiella variicola, Enterobacter hormaechei, and Bacillus gibsonii were detected. These results demonstrate the diverse bacterial community that evolves during ensiling and aerobic spoilage of IR, GG, and WM silages.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제33권8호
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• pp.1252-1264
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• 2020

Objective: To effectively utilize crop by-product resources to address the shortage of animal feed during the dry season in Africa, the community of natural lactic acid bacteria (LAB) of corn stover and sugarcane tops and fermentation characteristics of silage were studied in Mozambique. Methods: Corn stover and sugarcane tops were obtained from agricultural field in Mozambique. Silage was prepared with LAB inoculant and cellulase enzyme and their fermentation quality and microbial population were analyzed. Results: Aerobic bacteria were the dominant population with 10⁷ colony-forming unit/g of fresh matter in both crops prior to ensiling, while 10⁴ to 10⁷ LAB became the dominant bacteria during ensiling. Lactobacillus plantarum was more than 76.30% of total isolates which dominated silage fermentation in the LAB-treated sugarcane top silages or all corn stover silages. Fresh corn stover and sugarcane tops contain 65.05% to 76.10% neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and 6.52% to 6.77% crude protein (CP) on a dry matter basis, and these nutrients did not change greatly during ensiling. Corn stover exhibits higher LAB counts and water-soluble carbohydrates content than sugarcane top, which are naturally suited for ensiling. Meanwhile, sugarcane tops require LAB or cellulase additives for high quality of silage making. Conclusion: This study confirms that both crop by-products contain certain nutrients of CP and NDF that could be well-preserved in silage, and that they are potential roughage resources that could cover livestock feed shortages during the dry season in Africa.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.511-518
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• 2015

Calliandra calothyrsus preserved in silage is an alternative method for improving the crude protein content of feeds for sustainable ruminant production. The aim of this research was to evaluate the quality of silage which contained different levels of C. calothyrsus by examining the fermentation characteristics and microbial diversity. Silage was made in a completely randomized design consisting of five treatments with three replications i.e.: R0, Pennisetum purpureum 100%; R1, P. purpureum 75%+C. calothyrsus 25%;, R2, P. purpureum 50%+C. calothyrsus 50%; R3, P. purpureum 25%+C. calothyrsus 75%; and R4, C. calothyrsus 100%. All silages were prepared using plastic jar silos (600 g) and incubated at room temperature for 30 days. Silages were analyzed for fermentation characteristics and microbial diversity. Increased levels of C. calothyrsus in silage had a significant effect (p<0.01) on the fermentation characteristics. The microbial diversity index decreased and activity was inhibited with increasing levels of C. calothyrsus. The microbial community indicated that there was a population of Lactobacillus plantarum, L. casei, L. brevis, Lactococcus lactis, Chryseobacterium sp., and uncultured bacteria. The result confirmed that silage with a combination of grass and C. calothyrsus had good fermentation characteristics and microbial communities were dominated by L. plantarum.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제32권6호
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• pp.815-825
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• 2019

Objective: To effectively use corn stover resources as animal feed, the changes in microbial population and chemical composition of corn stover during field exposure, and their silage fermentation and in vitro digestibility were studied. Methods: Corn cultivars (Jintian, Jinnuo, and Xianyu) stovers from 4 random sections of the field were harvested at the preliminary dough stage of maturity on September 2, 2015. The corn stover exposed in the field for 0, 7, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 180 d, and their silages at 60 d of ensiling were used for the analysis of microbial population, chemical composition, fermentation quality, and in vitro digestibility. Data were analyzed with a completely randomized $3{\times}6$ [corn stover cultivar $(C){\times}exposure$ d (D)] factorial treatment design. Analysis of variance was performed using SAS ver. 9.0 software (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Results: Aerobic bacteria were dominant population in fresh corn stover. After ensiling, the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) became the dominant bacteria, while other microbes decreased or dropped below the detection level. The crude protein (CP) and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) for fresh stover were 6.74% to 9.51% and 11.75% to 13.21% on a dry matter basis, respectively. After exposure, the CP and WSC contents decreased greatly. Fresh stover had a relatively low dry matter while high WSC content and LAB counts, producing silage of good quality, but the dry stover did not. Silage fermentation inhibited nutrient loss and improved the fermentation quality and in vitro digestibility. Conclusion: The results confirm that fresh corn stover has good ensiling characteristics and that it can produce silage of good quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권7호
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• pp.901-906
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• 2010

The improvement of the fermentation quality of rice straw silage by application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and glucose was investigated in this study. Sixteen rice varieties were harvested at the maturity stage and the rice straw was ensiled with LAB inoculant ($1{\times}10^5$ cfu/g of fresh weight) and glucose (2% of fresh weight). Inoculation with LAB improved the fermentation as reflected in reductions in pH, acetic acid (by 3.7 to 78.3%), butyric acid (by -6.0 to 100.0%) and ammonia nitrogen (by 1.0 to 71.7%) concentrations, and increases in lactic acid (by 43.9 to 282.9%) and crude protein concentrations compared with the control. Application of LAB plus glucose was more effective in improving fermentation quality than LAB alone. The variety of rice straw which contained relatively high levels of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) tended to obtain better fermentation quality. The results suggested that LAB application and selection of rice varieties whose straw contained high levels of WSC were effective in improvement of the fermentation quality of rice straw silage.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.522-529
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• 1998

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculation either alone or in combination with cell wall degrading enzymes on the fermentation characteristics and chemical compositions of Rhodesgrass silage. Over to 1 kg of fresh Rhodesgrass sample a treatment of inoculant LAB with or without addition of an enzyme of Acremoniumcellulase (A) or Meicelase (M) or a mixture of both enzymes (AM) was applied. The treatments were control untreated, LAB-treated (application rate $1.0{\times}10^5cfu/g$ fresh sample), LAB+A 0.005%, LAB+A 0.01%, LAB+A 0.02%, LAB+M 0.005%, LAB+M 0.01%, LAB+M 0.02 %, LAB+AM 0.005%, LAB+AM 0.01%, and LAB+AM 0.02%. The sample was ensiled into 2-L vinyl bottle silo, with 9 silages of each treatment were made. Three silages of each treatment were incubated at 20, 30 and $40^{\circ}C$ for 2-months of storage period. All silages were well preserved with their fermentation quality has low pH values (3.91-4.26) and high lactic acid concentrations (4.11-9.89 %DM). No differences were found in fermentation quality and chemical composition of the control untreated silage as compared to the LAB-treated silage. Combined treatment of LAB+cellulases improved the fermentation quality of silages measured in terms of lower (p < 0.01) pH values and higher (p < 0.05) lactic concentrations than those of LAB-treated silages. Increasing amount of cellulase addition resulted in decrease (p < 0.05) of pH value and increase (p < 0.05) of lactic acid concentration. LAB + cellulase treatments (all cellulase types) reduced (p < 0.01) NDF, ADF and in vitro dry matter digestibility of silages compared with the control untreated silages. The fermentation quality and the rate of cell wall reduction were higher (p < 0.01) in the silages treated with LAB + cellulase A than in the silages treated with either LAB+cellulase M or LAB + cellulase AM. Incubation temperature of $40^{\circ}C$ was likely to be more appropriate environment for stimulating the fermentation of Rhodesgrass silages than those of 20 and $30^{\circ}C$.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제32권10호
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• pp.1528-1539
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• 2019

Objective: To evaluate the effects on microbial diversity and biochemical parameters of gradually increasing temperatures, from $5^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$ on corn silage which was previously fermented at ambient or low temperature. Methods: Whole-plant corn silage was fermented in vacuum bag mini-silos at either $10^{\circ}C$ or $20^{\circ}C$ for two months and stored at $5^{\circ}C$ for two months. The mini-silos were then subjected to additional incubation from $5^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$ in $5^{\circ}C$ increments. Bacterial and fungal diversity was assessed by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) profiling and biochemical analysis from mini-silos collected at each temperature. Results: A temperature of $10^{\circ}C$ during fermentation restricted silage fermentation compared to fermentation temperature of $20^{\circ}C$. As storage temperature increased from $5^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$, little changes occurred in silages fermented at $20^{\circ}C$, in terms of most biochemical parameters as well as bacterial and fungal populations. However, a high number of enterobacteria and yeasts (4 to $5\;log_{10}$ colony forming unit/g fresh materials) were detected at $15^{\circ}C$ and above. PCR-DGGE profile showed that Candida humilis predominated the fungi flora. For silage fermented at $10^{\circ}C$, no significant changes were observed in most silage characteristics when temperature was increased from $5^{\circ}C$ to $20^{\circ}C$. However, above $20^{\circ}C$, silage fermentation resumed as observed from the significantly increased number of lactic acid bacteria colonies, acetic acid content, and the rapid decline in pH and water-soluble carbohydrates concentration. DGGE results showed that Lactobacillus buchneri started to dominate the bacterial flora as temperature increased from $20^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$. Conclusion: Temperature during fermentation as well as temperature during storage modulates microorganism population development and fermentation patterns. Silage fermented at $20^{\circ}C$ indicated that these silages should have lower aerobic stability at opening because of better survival of yeasts and enterobacteria.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제34권1호
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• pp.48-55
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• 2021

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of wilting and microbial inoculant treatment on the fermentation pattern and quality of Italian ryegrass silage. Methods: Italian ryegrass was harvested at heading stage and ensiled into vinyl bags (20 cm×30 cm) for 60d. Italian ryegrass was ensiled with 4 treatments (NWNA, no-wilting noadditive; NWA, no-wilting with additive; WNA, wilting no-additive; WA, wilting with additive) in 3 replications, wilting time was 5 hours and additives were treated with 106 cfu/g of Lactobacillus plantarum. The silages samples were collected at 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 45, and 60 days after ensiling and analyzed for the ensiling quality and characteristics of fermentation patterns. Results: Wilting treatment resulted in lower crude protein and in vitro dry matter digestibility and there were no significant differences in acid detergent fiber (ADF), total digestible nutrient (TDN), water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC), ammonia content, and pH (p>0.05). However, wilting treatment resulted in higher ADF and neutral detergent fiber content of Italian ryegrass silage (p<0.05), and the WNA treatment showed the lowest TDN and in vitro dry matter digestibility. The pH of the silage was higher in the wilting group (WNA and WA) and lower in the additive treatment group. Meanwhile, the decrease in pH occurred sharply between the 3-5th day of storage. The ammonia nitrogen content was significantly lower in the additive treatment (p<0.05), and wilting had no effect. As fermentation progressed, the lactic and acetic acid contents were increased and showed the highest content at 30 days of storage. Conclusion: The wilting treatment did not significantly improve the silage fermentation, but the inoculant treatment improved the fermentation patterns and quality of the silage. So, inoculation before ensiling is recommended when preparing high quality of Italian ryegrass silage, and when wilting, it is recommended to combine inoculation for making high quality silage.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.511-517
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• 2014

This study examined the effects of bacterial inoculants on chemical composition and fermentation indices of barley silage. Barley forage (Youngyang) was harvested at 24% dry matter (DM) and wilted to 47.9% DM. The wilted barley forage was chopped to 3-5 cm length and applied with no inoculant (CON), L. plantarum ($1{\times}10^{10}cfu/g$, LP) or Effective Microorganisms ($0.5{\times}10^9cfu/g$, EM). Then the forages were ensiled in four replications for each treatment in 20 L mini silos and stored for 100 days. The contents of crude protein and ether extract were higher in CON silage ensiled for 100-d, while the contents of DM and crude ash were higher in EM silage (p<0.05). The contents of ADF, NDF and hemicellulose as well as the in vitro DM digestibility were not affected by microbial inoculation (p>0.05). The pH, ammonia-N concentration and lactate to acetate ratio were higher (p<0.05) in CON silage, while lactate concentrations were higher (p<0.05) in CON and LP silage. Acetate concentration and lactic acid bacteria was increased (p<0.05) by both inoculants (LP and EM), but propionate concentration and yeast was increased (p<0.05) by EM and LP, respectively. These results indicated that the fermentation quality of barley silage was improved by the application of bacterial inoculants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.533-540
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• 2006

In this study, the possibility of green tea waste (GTW) as a new ingredient of byproducts-mixed silage was investigated. Characteristics of GTW were low in dry matter (DM) content (20%), and high in crude protein (30 to 36%) and tannins (8.5%). The GTW was added to mixed silages composed of tofu cake, rice straw and rice bran that are locally available in Japan. In experiment 1, the effect of GTW addition to silage made from various patterns of byproducts mixture based on tofu cake was studied. In experiment 2, the effect of GTW addition and storage temperature on fermentation characteristics, nutrient contents and in vitro ruminal gas production of byproducts-mixed silages were examined. In experiment 1, GTW addition on tofu cake accelerated acetic, propionic and butyric acid accumulation in the silage. When rice straw was mixed with tofu cake, DM content was increased from 47 to 56%, lactic acid was the main acid and the pH was decreased below 4.2. In this case, GTW addition to those mixtures did not affect acid concentrations of the silage. In experiment 2, GTW addition to the byproducts mixture increased lactic acid concentration, decreased the pH and DM loss of the silages. In GTW treatments, tannin concentration was lower in the silage stored at $30^{\circ}C$ than $15^{\circ}C$. Addition of GTW into the silage also increased in vitro ruminal gas production. It was concluded that addition of GTW into byproducts-mixed silage enhanced lactic acid fermentation when there were insufficient materials for lactic acid production. Utilization of GTW as an ingredient in mixed silages would be effective in enhancing fermentation characteristics, lowering tannin content and in vitro ruminal gas production.