Document Type

Report

Report Number

Cattle 84-2

Publication Date

1984

Summary

The making of quality silage is largely dependent upon the fermentation process as carried out by microorganisms present in the forage during ensiling. Research has shown that the number of these organisms can vary considerably in the corn forage. Inoculation of the forage with microorganisms favorable to fermentation such as Lactobacillus species is a means of reducing variation due to kind and number of fermentative organisms. Previous research at SDSU has shown there is very little difference in feedable corn silage quality with microbial inoculation, but that the fermentation process can be accelerated as fermentation temperatures were also observed with inoculated silage than untreated silage. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if a highly concentrated silage inoculant containing Lactobacillus plantarum would improve silage quality and preservation was compared with uninoculated silage in terms of feed-lot performance of beef cattle, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention by steer, chemical quality and aerobic stability.

Number of Pages

11

Type

text

Format

application/pdf

Language

en

Publisher

Department of Animal Science, Agricultural Experiment Station, South Dakota State University

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