The effects of Lactobacillus plantarum and Propionibacterium acidipropionici on corn silage fermentation, ruminal degradability and nutrient digestibility in sheep

The chemical composition, in situ ruminal degradability coefficients of dry matter (DM), and nutrient digestibility in sheep were evaluated for corn silage (CS) treated (fresh weight basis) with different levels of a commercial bacterial inoculant (I) as follows: (1) untreated CS (control); (2) CS + I at half of the recommended level; (3) CS + I at the recommended level (3  1010 colony forming units per g of fresh forage) and (4) CS + I at two-fold recommended level. The inoculants (Lallemand, France) consisted of Lactobacillus plantarum and Propionibacterium acidipropionici. Whole- plant corn was ensiled for 60 days in plastic polyethylene bags. Also, three laboratory silos (70 g capacity) for each treatment were sampled on days 2, 3, 4 and 60 to study the pH changes. The silages underwent rapid fermentation and were well-preserved. The pH value decreased to 4.0 on day 2 and was the lowest for treatment 2 on day 60 after ensiling compared with other treatments. Treatment 2 had higher (P