Agronomy (May 2025)

Impacts of Chemical and Microbial Additives on the Quality of Forage Sorghum Silage During the Fermentation Process

  • Paulo da Cunha Tôrres Júnior,
  • Luana Milena Pinheiro Rodrigues,
  • Alberto Jefferson da Silva Macêdo,
  • Juliana Silva de Oliveira,
  • Mateus Lacerda Pereira Lemos,
  • Francisco Naysson de Sousa Santos,
  • Bruno Rocha de Moura,
  • Anderson Lopes Pereira,
  • Evandro de Sousa da Silva,
  • Thácyla Beatriz Duarte Correia,
  • Gilvânia Avelino da Costa,
  • Hilário Cuquetto Mantovani,
  • Edson Mauro Santos

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15051176
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 5
p. 1176

Abstract

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Additives are intentionally added to silage to reduce the growth of undesirable micro-organisms and to control the course of fermentation. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two additives, a commercial product based on organic acids (OA) and Lentilactobacillus buchneri (Lb), alone or in combination with OA. The experiment was conducted in a 4 × 3 factorial completely randomized design, with five replicates per treatment, four additives (control, no additive (Control); commercial inoculant based on L. buchneri (Lb); additive based on organic acids (OA); Lb combined with OA (Blend)), and three fermentation periods (15, 30, and 90 days). The filamentous fungi count was higher in the Control silage during all fermentation periods. Lb silage showed greater aerobic stability (144 h) during all fermentation periods. The fermentation pattern was also influenced by inoculation; Lactobacillus was the most prevalent genus in Blend silage, and Lactiplantibacillus, Lacticaseibacillus, and Secundilactobacillus were predominant in OA silage, followed by Lentilactobacillus, which was higher in Lb silage. The addition of Lb and the Blend silage were the most efficient strategies, promoting greater accumulation of acetic acid and inhibiting yeasts, and the additives contributed to a more stable environment over 90 days of storage.

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