This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of microbial additives containing hetero fermentative or homo fermentative bacteria on the characteristics of sugarcane silages. Sugarcane was inoculated with the following bacteria: Lactobacillus plantarum (LP), L. paracasei (LPARA), L. brevis (LBREVIS), L.buchneri (LB), isolated from sugarcane silage, and three commercial inoculants, two of them containing L. buchneri (Pioneer 11A44TM-LBP and Lalsil Cana-LBLC) and one L. plantarum (Biomax®-LPB) and control (without inoculation). All the inoculants were applied in population of 10(5) log cfu.g-1 of fresh forage. A completely randomized design was used with eight treatments and three replicates. The effect of inoculation on the bromatological characteristics was variable. The silage containing L. plantarum (LPB) showed significantly higher dry matter content (32.6%), while all the others strains studied showed similar effect, with average of 28.4%. The crude protein content ranged from 3.6-4.9% and NDF content ranged from 60-66.7% DM. The ADF, hemicellulose and ash contents were similar for all silages. All treatments used more than 85% of the soluble carbohydrate, which resulted in pH around 3.5. The pH and ammoniacal nitrogen values were acceptable. The inoculants were more effective for the aerobic evaluation of silages, because they slow down temperature and improve the aerobic stability with best results observed in treatments LBLC, LB and LPB.
aerobic stability; fermentation; microbiology; temperature
