Fermentative profile of corn silages with the inclusion of chemical additives or bacterial inoculant

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the inclusion of chemical additives or bacterial inoculant in corn silage. The experimental design was completely randomized with five treatments: silage without additive; silage added with urea (3.0%); silage with limestone (3.0%); silage added with crystal sugar (3.0%); and silage with a bacterial inoculant. Five of them were opened during the fermentation process (15 days) to measure pH, and three were opened 60 days after ensiling to evaluate the ammonia nitrogen and organic acids content. For the pH at the end of the fermentation process, higher values were found for the limestone additive, followed by the silage with urea, which had higher participation of lactic acid, 19.06 ppm for limestone and 18.95 ppm for urea. Higher concentrations of acetic acid were observed in inoculant silages (18.49ppm) or silage without additive (18.46ppm). The ammonia nitrogen content was higher in the silage with urea (23.74mg dL-1), followed by the silage without additive (7.54mg dL-1), which also had the highest concentration of butyric acid (4.19ppm). The use of additives reduced the concentration of butyric acid in the silage. The bacterial inoculant was the most efficient in decreasing the pH of the ensiled material.