The influence of additives facilitating ensiling on the quality of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) silage

Abstract

Chenopodium quinoa Willd. is a new plant in the conditions of Poland. At harvest, it has a low content of dry matter, which makes it difficult to ensile. For this reason, a study was undertaken on the effect of microbial and chemical additives on selected quality characteristics of quinoa silage. Traits determining the suitability of the green forage and the influence of silage additives were assessed. A microbial additive and a chemical additive were used. The microbial additive contained bacterial strains of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus acidilactici (concentration 1.25·1011 CFU·g-1) and was applied in the amount of 1 g·t-1 of fresh material. The chemical additive contained formic acid, propionic acid and ammonium formate, and was added in the amount of 5 l·t-1 of fresh material. The quality of the quinoa silage depending on the additive used was evaluated. The fresh material of Chenopodium quinoa Willd. contained only 6.42% water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) in dry matter (DM) and its fermentability coefficient was 29.2. Lactic acid was predominant in the silage, while the content of acetic acid was average. In the control silage (without additives), small amounts of butyric acid (0.04% DM) were noted, so its quality according to the Flieg-Zimmer scale was good. No butyric acid was found in the silage prepared with additives, and their quality was very good. The control silage contained more N-NH3 than the silage prepared with additives (P≤0.01). This indicated that the preservatives (silage additives) limited the process of protein degradation in the quinoa silage.

Keywords

• chemical additives
• microbial additives
• quality
• quinoa
• silage