Impact of maturity stage, bacterial inoculants and storage length on corn silage quality

Abstract

Two studies will be carried out at the Laboratory of Forage and Pastures of the Animal Science Department of FCAV, Unesp, Câmpus de Jaboticabal, SP. In study 1, corn will be harvested with approximately 28 and 35% dry matter (DM) and ensiled without (control) or with L. buchneri in mini-silos. The mini-silos will be stored for 0, 120, 240 and 360 days. Corn silages will be evaluated to determine its chemical composition, fermentation profile, ttal DM loss and aerobic stability. The study 1 will be carried out under a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement 2 (two stages of maturity) × 2 (with or without L. buchneri) × 4 (four storage times), with four replicates per treatment. In study 2, corn will be harvested with approximately 35% DM and ensiled without (control) or with L. buchneri, and stored for 120 and 360 days. Forty-eight sheep will be used in the feeding program and they will be kept in a feedlot. Eight sheep will be slaughtered after the adaptation phase to determine carcass weight. The diets will be composed of 35% espective silages described above and 65% concentrate (ground corn, soybean meal, urea and mineral supplement). Thereafter 65 days of feedlot, the sheep will be slaughtered for analysis of carcass yield and meat quality. Eight ruminally-cannulated sheep will be used in the evaluation of ruminal fermentation (i.e., pH, ammonia-N and short-chain fatty acids). The feeding program and ruminal fermentation will be conducted under a randomized block design in a factorial arrangement 2 (bacterial inoculation or not) × 2 (silage storage lengths), with 10 and 4 replicates per treatment, respectively. The data will be analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS version 9.4. (AU)