The Effect of a Silage Inoculant on Silage Quality, Aerobic Stability and Milk Production

A silage inoculant [Biomin® BioStabil Plus, BSP, a blend of Enterococcus faecium (DSM 3530), Lactoba-cillus brevis (DSM 19456) and Lactobacillus plantarum (DSM 19457)], was used on legume-grass silage [32% of dry matter (DM)] vs. an untreated control silage (CT). The material had mean crude protein (CP) and water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentrations of 174 and 88 g/kg, respectively. BSP resulted in significantly higher CP (159 vs. 149 g/kg DM; P < 0.05) and digestible protein concentrations (117.8 vs. 108.9 g/kg DM; P < 0.01). Inoculant increased fermentation rates, resulting in a significant decrease in pH (P < 0.05) and a significant increase of total fermentation acids concentration (P < 0.05), as well as higher quantity of lactic acid (P < 0.01) and higher content of acetic acid compared to CT. Butyric acid and Ammo-nia N concentrations were significantly decreased (P < 0.01) through the use of BSP. Dry matter (DM) losses were significantly lower (P < 0.01) using BSP treated grass-legume silages. The digestible energy (P < 0.01) and net energy lactation (P < 0.05) were higher in the inoculated silage compared to the CT (2.1 and 1.25%, respectively). The inoculation of silage with BSP also improved stability. Twenty-four dairy cows were fed with both type of silages and their productivity response was evaluated over a 92-days feeding period. Animals were assigned to two treatments in a randomized-block design experiment. Silage was offered ad libitum to animals in both treatments and cows were supplemented with 4 kg DM of a commercial com-pound feed per day. The silage DM feed intake was higher in BSP (+6.5%), whereas the energy corrected milk (ECM) production for treated silages increased by 1.4 kg per cow per day. The milk fat and protein content were numerically higher in animals under the treatment with BSP and the efficiency of the conver-sion of feed-NEL into milk was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in cows which were fed with the silage treated using BSP.