Soybean whole-plant ensiled with chitosan and lactic acid bacteria: Microorganism counts, fermentative profile, and total losses

Abstract

Chitosan is a biopolymer derived from chitin deacetylation, present in the exoskeleton of crustaceans and insects. Chitosan has been evaluated as rumen modulator and silage additive due to its antimicrobial properties. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of both chitosan and a bacterial additive on microbiological quality, chemical composition, nutrient in vitro degradation, fermentative profile, and total losses of whole-soybean plant silage (SS) harvested at R6 stage. Four treatments in a factorial arrangement were randomly assigned to 40 experimental minisilos as no additives (CON), 8 g/t fresh forage of microbial inoculant (INO; Kera SIL, Kera Nutrição Animal, Bento Gonçalves, Brazil); 5 g/kg of fresh forage chitosan (CHI); and CHI + INO. Microbial inoculant was composed of Lactobacillus plantarum (4.0 × 10 cfu/g) and Propionibacterium acidipropionici (2.6 × 10 cfu/g). The CHI and INO alone increased counts of lactic bacteria and anaerobic bacteria and decreased counts of mold and yeast in SS. The CHI or INO alone increased in vitro degradation of dry matter, crude protein, and neutral detergent fiber, and decreased nonfiber carbohydrate content of SS. Chitosan increased NH-N and lactate concentrations and decreased ethanol concentration in SS. The CHI increased dry matter recovery from SS; INO increased silage aerobic stability. The combination of CHI+INO showed the lowest value of gas losses. In general, the combination of CHI and INO had small positive effects on gas losses of SS; however, both CHI or INO alone improved nutrient in vitro degradation and decreased mold and yeast in SS. Chitosan or INO utilization improves SS quality.

Enteric Methane Emissions and Rumen Fermentation Profile Treated by Dietary Chitosan: A Meta-Analysis of In Vitro Experiments

“…This present study was in agreement with previous research, which reported that adding chitosan in the whole soybean and sugarcane silage increased DMD, CPD, and NDFD Gandra et al, 2018). However, other studies reported conversely that the addition of chitosan reduced DMD in the in vitro rumen batch culture (Li et al, 2013;Wencelová et al, 2013).…”

Chitosan and microbial inoculants in whole-plant soybean silage

“…Gandra et al . (2018) also observed improved DM recovery and nutritional value on CHI-treated soybean silages. However, it is essential to highlight that most of the CHI effects observed in that study were dependent of microbial inoculant addition; DM content of fresh soybeans was higher than obtained in the present study (342 vs. 250 g/kg natural matter) and different chitosan levels were evaluated (5 g/kg natural matter vs. 6 g/kg DM).…”

“…A similar lack of effect on fermentation parameters was observed by Gandra et al . (2018). Differently, chitosan positively affected sugarcane silage fermentation and nutritional value, for example, which traditionally showed a low pH environment (Del Valle et al ., 2018, 2020).…”

“…Gandra et al . (2018) evaluated the association of CHI and a homofermentative LAB inoculant containing Lactobacillus plantarum and Propionibacterium acidipropionici during the whole plant soybean silage (WPSS) ensiling. Although those authors reported that CHI had a positive impact on lactate content, DM recovery, and in vitro degradation of WPSS, there was no associative effect.…”

Perdas no Processo de Ensilagem: Uma breve revisão

“…Alguns trabalhos demonstram as perdas por gases em silagens (Negrão et al, 2020;Pinedo et al, 2020;Marques et al, 2021). De acordo Gandra et al (2018), que ao trabalharem com adição de quitosana na silagem com aditivo antimicrobial, observaram aumento nas perdas por gases e inferiram que esta perda está relacionada com o aumento da presença dos microrganismos. Souza et al (2018) confrontaram a redução do pH da silagem com o teor de carboidratos não fibrosos, observando aumento nas perdas por gases das silagens estudadas.…”