• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제32권10호
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• pp.1521-1527
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• 2019

Objective: To study the contribution of plant enzyme and microbial activities on protein degradation in silage, this study evaluated the nitrogen transformation dynamics during ensiling of non- and irradiated alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.). Methods: Alfalfa and red clover silages were prepared and equally divided into two groups. One group was exposed to ${\gamma}$-irradiation at a recommended dosage (25 Gky). Therefore, four types of silages were produced: i) non-irradiated alfalfa silage; ii) irradiated alfalfa silage; iii) non-irradiated red clover silage; and iv) irradiated red clover silage. These silages were opened for fermentation quality and nitrogen components analyses after 1, 4, 8, and 30 days, respectively. Results: The ${\gamma}$-irradiation successfully suppressed microbial activity, indicated by high pH and no apparent increases in fermentation end products in irradiated silages. All nitrogen components, except for peptide-N, increased throughout the ensiling process. Proteolysis less occurred in red clover silages compared with alfalfa silages, indicated by smaller (p<0.05) increment in peptide-N and free amino acid N (FAA-N) during early stage of ensiling. The ${\gamma}$-irradiation treatment increased (p<0.05) peptide-N and FAA-N in alfalfa silage at day 1, whereas not in red clover silage; these two nitrogen components were higher (p<0.05) between day 4 and day 30 in non-irradiated silages than the irradiated silages. The ammonia nitrogen and non-protein nitrogen were highest in non-irradiated alfalfa silage and lowest in irradiated red clover silage after ensiling. Conclusion: The result of this study indicate that red clover and alfalfa are two forages varying in their nitrogen transformation patterns, especially during early stages of ensiling. Microbial activity plays a certain role in the proteolysis and seems little affected by the presence of polyphenol oxidase in red clover compared with alfalfaa.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.213-217
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• 2002

This study determined the influence of moisture, ensiling time and their interactions on the losses of hemicellulose and cellulose during ensiling of orchardgrass. Orchardgrass containing 80 (HM), 70 (MM) and 55% (LM) moisture was ensiled in 3 laboratory silos of 500 ml capacity for 3, 7, 21 and 91 days. The dry matter (DM), water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC), hemicellulose and cellulose contents of the ensiled orchardgrass was lowered than that of the untreated grass regardless of moisture content. Ensiling orchardgrass for 91 days (d) decreased (p<0.01) hemicellulose contents from 19 to 15%, 20 to 15% and 18 to 12% and cellulose from 31 to 29%, 29 to 26% and 27 to 26% for LM, MM and HM silage, respectively. Results from fermentation of LM and MM silages were within acceptable guidelines except for butyric acid and ammonia after 3 weeks of ensiling of MM which appeared to be lower than ideal. The results of the fermentation of HM silages were poor showing higher concentration of acetic, propionic and butyric acids and traces of isovaleric, valeric and caproic acids with ammonia at all stage of time. While the DM losses from LM and MM silages over the ensiling period were acceptable, that for HM silage increased to 13% after 91 d ensiling, confirming a poor fermentation process occurred. The greatest WSC losses occurred within 7 d of ensiling and the lowest losses occurred after 3 weeks of ensiling. Except in HM silage, the hemicellulose and cellulose losses were highest (p<0.01) in the first 3 weeks of ensiling. Hemicellulose losses were between 19 and 22% and 4.2 and 5.9% up to 3 weeks and after 3 weeks of ensiling LM and MM silages, respectively. Cellulose losses were small. In contrast, hemicellulose losses after 3 weeks of ensiling of HM silage was about 50% higher than over the first 3 weeks possibly due to clostridial type fermentation. The results showed that increasing ensiling time of high moisture orchardgrass would result in the excessive losses of DM, WSC, hemicellulose and cellulose in the silage.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제31권9호
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• pp.1464-1473
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• 2018

Objective: To describe in-depth sequencing, the bacterial community diversity and its succession during ensiling of whole-plant maize and subsequent exposure to air. Methods: The microbial community dynamics of fermented whole-plant maize for 60 days (sampled on day 5, 10, 20, 40, 60) and subsequent aerobic exposure (sampled on day 63 after exposure to air for 3 days) were explored using Illumina Miseq sequence platform. Results: A total of 227,220 effective reads were obtained. At the genus level, there were 12 genera with relative abundance >1%, Lactobacillus, Klebsiella, Sporolactobacillus, Norank-c-cyanobacteria, Pantoea, Pediococcus, Rahnella, Sphingomonas, Serratia, Chryseobacterium, Sphingobacterium, and Lactococcus. Lactobacillus consistently dominated the bacterial communities with relative abundance from 49.56% to 64.17% during the ensiling process. Klebsiella was also an important succession bacterium with a decrease tendency from 15.20% to 6.41% during the ensiling process. The genus Sporolactobacillus appeared in late-ensiling stages with 7.70% abundance on day 40 and 5.32% on day 60. After aerobic exposure, the Lactobacillus decreased its abundance from 63.2% on day 60 to 45.03% on d 63, and Klebsiella from 5.51% to 5.64%, while Sporolactobacillus greatly increased its abundance to 28.15%. These bacterial genera belong to 5 phyla: Firmicutes (relative abundance: 56.38% to 78.43%) was dominant, others were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, and Actinobacteria. The bacterial communities clearly clustered into early-ensiling (d 5), medium-ensiling (d 10, d 20), late-ensiling (d 40, d 60), and aerobic exposure (d 63) clusters, with early- and late-ensiling communities more like each other than to the aerobic exposure communities. Conclusion: High-throughput sequencing based on 16S rRNA genes proved to be a useful method to explore bacterial communities of silage. The results indicated that the bacterial communities varied during fermentation and more dramatically during aerobic exposure. The study is valuable for understanding the mechanism of population change and the relationship between bacteria and ensilage characteristics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.1701-1704
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• 2001

The evaluation of structural carbohydrate losses and its effect on silages digestibility in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) was studied during 5, 21 and 56 days ensiling. About 70 and 60 kg fresh matter of the two forages were ensiled in 9 silos of 120 L capacity. The digestion trials were conducted in two phases using the two grasses in two $4{\times}4$ Latin square design according to the four treatments being the grass and the three silages. There were no differences in the DM and CP contents resulting from 5 to 56 days ensiling in both forages. The water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC), hemicelllose, pectin, and energy were slightly reduced and appeared lower in 56 days silage. The ether extract and cellulose contents slightly increased as the ensiling process advanced in the two species. Hemicellulose losses of 29 and 41 g/kg DM were obtained in alfalfa and orchardgrass, respectively, 56 days after ensiling. While the cellulose losses in both species were very little, compared to that for hemicellulose, the pectin losses, 56 days after ensiling were 15 and 12 g/kg DM in alfalfa and orchardgras respectively. The total structural carbohydrates lost (ie., hemicellulose + cellulose + pectin) in g/kg DM of fresh material forage ensiled, is about four fifths the amount lost by WSC, in alfalfa and about two thirds, in orchardgrass, by 21 days ensiling after the activity of microorganism terminated, indicating that appreciable amount was used as substrate for silage fermentation. Ensiling alfalfa and orchardgrass for 0, 5, 21 and 56 days maintained a decreasing trend of 83.8, 82.5, 79.3 and 78.9% digestibility in alfalfa and 80.5, 77.0, 77.1 and 76.4% digestibility in orchardgrass. While the digestibility of cellulose and ether extract increased in silage in both species, the digestible energy values in silage were reduced from 2.6 to 2.3 and 2.9 to 2.7 Mcal/kg DM respectively in alfalfa and orchard during 5-56 days ensiling.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.171-180
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• 2017

Objective: This study investigated the association of enzyme-producing microbes and their enzymes with starch and hemicellulose degradation during fermentation of total mixed ration (TMR) silage. Methods: The TMRs were prepared with soybean curd residue, alfalfa hay (ATMR) or Leymus chinensis hay (LTMR), corn meal, soybean meal, vitamin-mineral supplements, and salt at a ratio of 25:40:30:4:0.5:0.5 on a dry matter basis. Laboratory-scale bag silos were randomly opened after 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, and 56 days of ensiling and subjected to analyses of fermentation quality, carbohydrates loss, microbial amylase and hemicellulase activities, succession of dominant amylolytic or hemicellulolytic microbes, and their microbial and enzymatic properties. Results: Both ATMR and LTMR silages were well preserved, with low pH and high lactic acid concentrations. In addition to the substantial loss of water soluble carbohydrates, loss of starch and hemicellulose was also observed in both TMR silages with prolonged ensiling. The microbial amylase activity remained detectable throughout the ensiling in both TMR silages, whereas the microbial hemicellulase activity progressively decreased until it was inactive at day 14 post-ensiling in both TMR silages. During the early stage of fermentation, the main amylase-producing microbes were Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (B. amyloliquefaciens), B. cereus, B. licheniformis, and B. subtilis in ATMR silage and B. flexus, B. licheniformis, and Paenibacillus xylanexedens (P. xylanexedens) in LTMR silage, whereas Enterococcus faecium was closely associated with starch hydrolysis at the later stage of fermentation in both TMR silages. B. amyloliquefaciens, B. licheniformis, and B. subtilis and B. licheniformis, B. pumilus, and P. xylanexedens were the main source of microbial hemicellulase during the early stage of fermentation in ATMR and LTMR silages, respectively. Conclusion: The microbial amylase contributes to starch hydrolysis during the ensiling process in both TMR silages, whereas the microbial hemicellulase participates in the hemicellulose degradation only at the early stage of ensiling.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제17권11호
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• pp.1524-1528
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• 2004

In order to determine the extent of change in nitrogen fractions and in vitro ruminal degradability of forage protein during ensilage and the influence on nitrogen utilization by sheep, orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) were ensiled in separate 120 L silos for 5, 21 and 56 days. With respect to nitrogen fractions, fraction 1 (buffer solution soluble nitrogen), fraction 2 (buffer solution insoluble nitrogen-neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen), fraction 3 (neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen-acid detergent insoluble nitrogen), and fraction 4 (acid detergent insoluble nitrogen) were determined. Fractions 1 and 2 accounted for more than 80% of total nitrogen in orchardgrass and 90% of that in alfalfa. The proportion of fraction 1 in orchardgrass increased from 33.0% at day 0 to 52.0% after day 56 of ensiling. In the case of alfalfa silage it was 41.7% and 62.9%, respectively. Seventy percent of this increase occurred within the first 5 days of ensiling. A similar change of in vitro ruminal degradability of total nitrogen was also observed in both forages. Nitrogen retention in sheep tended to decrease as the length of ensiling increased, with a significantly positive correlation between urinary nitrogen and fraction 1, and in vitro ruminal degradability of total nitrogen.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제9권5호
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• pp.483-493
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• 1996

Advances in silage technology, including precision chop forage harvesters, improved silos, polyethylene sheeting, shear cutting silo unloaders, and the introduction of total mixed rations, have made silage the principal method of forage preservation. A better understanding of the biochemistry and microbiology of the four phases of the ensiling process has also led to the development of numerous silage additives. Although acids and acid salts still are used to ensile low-DM forages in wet climates, bacterial inoculants have become the most widely used silage additives in the past decade. Commercial inoculants can assure a rapid and efficient fermentation phase; however, in the future, these products also must contribute to other areas of silage management, including the inhibition of enterobacteria, clostridia, and yeasts and molds. Nonprotein nitrogen additives have the problems of handling, application, and reduced preservation efficiency, which have limited their wide spread use. Aerobic deterioration in the feedout phase continues to be a serious problem, especially in high-DM silages. The introduction of competitive strains of propionic acid-producing bacteria, which could assure aerobically stable silages, would improve most commercial additives. New technologies are needed that would allow the farmer to assess the chemical and microbial status of the silage crop on a given day and then use the appropriate additive(s).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제10권6호
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• pp.593-598
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• 1997

The changes of tissue structure in timothy and alfalfa during ensiling process with silage additives; lactic acid bacteria, cellulase and formic acid, were observed with a video microscope. Stem samples were obtained from the second internode, and cut to divide into 2 pieces. One piece was for observation of ensiled material and the other was for silage. The latter piece was put into a nylon cloth bag, and ensiled with grass for 50 days in a small experimental silo Lignification of the plant tissues was checked by acid phloroglucinol. Natural silage fermentation resulted in some degradation of less lignified parenchyma in both plant species. However, lignified sclerenchyma and vascular bundles remained intact. The cellulase enhanced the degradation of parenchyma tissue, while the formic acid suppressed the degradation. The effect of lactobacillus was small. The percentage of remained cross sectional area of stem and the loss of NDF and ADF by silage fermentation confirmed the observation. High negative correlations were obtained between the remained area and loss of fibrous components during silage fermentation in both plants, and between the loss of fibrous components and in vitro dry matter digestibility in timothy but not in alfalfa.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제37권7호
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• pp.1185-1195
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• 2024

Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the impact of wilted and unwilted silage on various parameters, such as nutrient content, fermentation quality, bacterial populations, and digestibility. Methods: Thirty-six studies from Scopus were included in the database and analyzed using a random effects model in OpenMEE software. The studies were grouped into two categories: wilting silage (experiment group) and non-wilting silage (control group). Publication bias was assessed using a fail-safe number. Results: The results showed that wilting before ensiling significantly increased the levels of dry matter, water-soluble carbohydrates, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber, compared to non-wilting silage (p<0.05). However, wilting significantly decreased dry matter losses, lactic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, and ammonia levels (p<0.05). The pH, crude protein, and ash contents remained unaffected by the wilting process. Additionally, the meta-analysis revealed no significant differences in bacterial populations, including lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and aerobic bacteria, or in vitro dry matter digestibility between the two groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: Wilting before ensiling significantly improved silage quality by increasing dry matter and water-soluble carbohydrates, as well as reducing dry matter losses, butyric acid, and ammonia. Importantly, wilting did not have a significant impact on pH, crude protein, or in vitro dry matter digestibility.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.218-221
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• 2002

Whole forage sorghum (saccharatum) cultivar FS5 was harvested at the soft dough ($303{\pm}9g\;kg^{-1}$ DM) stage of maturity. The sorghum was chopped into approximately 20 mm pieces and ensiled under laboratory conditions in 1.5 L Weck glass jars. At ensiling, it was treated with two commercial silage inoculants: Pioneer 1188 (Inoculant A) and Eco-corn (Inoculant B). The inoculant A and B was applied at ca $2{\times}10^5$ or $2{\times}10^4$ colony forming units $g^{-1}$ DM., respectively. Silage with no additives served as a control. Three jars per treatment were opened on days 2, 4, 8, 15 and 60 post-ensiling to study fermentation dynamics. After 60 days of ensiling the silages were analyzed and subjected to an aerobic stability test lasting 5 days. Results showed that both inoculants caused a more rapid rate of pH decrease and a higher amount of lactic acid production. All the silages were well preserved and were stable upon exposure to air. Inoculants did not influence (p>0.05) the ash and total N contents, but tended to reduce acetic acid (p<0.05), butyric acid (p<0.01) and propionic acid (p<0.01) contents, and to increase the lactic acid content (p<0.01). The lower DM content of silages treated with Inoculant A agrees with the greater gas loss resulting from the DM loss, which was in good agreement with the higher yeast counts upon aerobic exposure. Silage treated with inoculant B had the highest DM (p<0.05) and lactic acid contents (p<0.01), and the lowest acetic acid content (p<0.05), which agrees with the rapid reduction of pH and smaller gas loss. Inoculant B reduced the ADF (p<0.01), ADL and NDF (p<0.05) contents, which also indicates smaller losses of organic soluble material. The control silages contained the highest levels of volatile fatty acids but no lactic acid, indicating secondary fermentation. It was concluded that both inoculants may improve the fermentation process, since silages from all treatments were stable upon aerobic exposure, noadvantage could be attributed to any of the inoculants used.