Effects of Combined Starters Culture of Lactobacillus plantarum on Fermentation Quality, Aerobic Stability and Acceptability by Ruminant of Panicum maximum Silage

This study examined the effects of two L. plantarum starters that are physicochemically different on Panicum maximum silage fermentation. The grass was inoculated with approximately 10 cfu/g of the starter 6 culture. Aerobic stability, chemical composition and acceptability of the silage produced by ruminant were monitored at 15 days intervals for 60 days. The studies observed rapid drop in the pH of the inoculated silage to 3.90 at day 30, increase in the count of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from 9.00 log cfu/g at day 15 to 10.15 log cfu/g at day 60 while decrease in spoilage microorganisms like mold from 4.09 log cfu/g at day 15 to 2.084 log cfu/g at day 60 in the inoculated silage. The crude protein (CP) of the silage was also observed to increase from 6.56 g/100 DM on fresh wilted grass to 9.63 g/100 dry matter (DM) at day 30 and 45 in the inoculated silage while the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of the silage decreased in the inoculated silage. The NDF decreased from 59.00 g/100 DM at day 15 to 57.00 g/100 DM on day 60. The inoculated and the control silage were not aerobically stable when exposed to air at the 45 and 60 day of ensiling. The spoilage organism like yeast increased from 4.34 log cfu/g at day 1 of exposure to 4.4 log cfu/g at the second day of exposure at the 45 days of ensiling. The West African dwarf sheep used in this study showed low acceptability to the inoculated silage than the control silage with COP of 0.98, 0.90, 0.81 and 0.58 at days 15, 30, 45 and 60 respectively compared to the uninoculated control which has coefficient of performance (COP) of 1.01, 1.10, 1.18 and 1.42 at days 15, 30, 45 and 60 respectively.