• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.1123-1132
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• 2015

Winter wheat is a suitable crop to be ensiled for animal feed and China has the largest planting area of this crop in the world. During the ensiling process, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play the most important role in the fermentation. We investigated the natural population of LAB in whole-crop wheat (WCW) and examined the quality of whole-crop wheat silage (WCWS) with and without LAB inoculants. Two Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum strains, Zhengzhou University 1 (ZZU 1) selected from corn and forage and grass 1 (FG 1) from a commercial inoculant, were used as additives. The silages inoculated with LAB strains (ZZU 1 and FG 1) were better preserved than the control, with lower pH values (3.5 and 3.6, respectively) (p<0.05) and higher contents of lactic acid (37.5 and 34.0 g/kg of fresh matter (FM), respectively) (p<0.05) than the control. Sixty LAB strains were isolated from fresh material and WCWS without any LAB inoculation. These LAB strains were divided into the following four genera and six species based on their phenotypic, biochemical and phylogenetic characteristics: Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Leuconostoc citreum, Weissella cibaria, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactobacillus buchneri, and Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum. However, the prevalent LAB, which was predominantly heterofermentative (66.7%), consisted of Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Leuconostoc citreum, Weissella cibaria, and Lactobacillus buchneri. This study revealed that most of isolated LAB strains from control WCWS were heterofermentative and could not grow well at low pH condition; the selective inoculants of Lactobacillus strains, especially ZZU 1, could improve WCWS quality significantly.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.624-630
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• 2001

Two experiments on the effects of molasses additive on cassava tops silage quality to its feed intake and digestibility by growing Holstein$\times$local crossbred heifers were carried out. Sixteen plastic bags of one meter diameter and two meters length were allocated in a $2{\times}2$ factorial design with four replicates in the ensiling study, with and without the molasses additive and with two storage times (2 and 3 months). The silage produced in the first experiment was used in the feed intake and digestibility study. Six crossbred Holstein heifers, 160-180 kg live weight, were randomly allocated in a $3{\times}2$ change-over design to three treatments: Guinea grass ad libitum, 70% of grass ad libitum with a supplement of non-molasses cassava silage ad libitum, and 70% of grass ad libitum with a supplement of molasses cassava silage ad libitum. Ensiling was shown to be a satisfactory method for preservation of cassava tops. The HCN content was significantly reduced from $840mg\;kg^{-1}$ to 300 or $130mg\;kg^{-1}$, depending on storage period. The tannin content was not significantly changed. Molasses additive resulted in lower pH, Crude Protein (CP), NDF and higher DM content but did not otherwise affect chemical composition. The voluntary feed intake per 100 kg live weight of the heifers was 2.59, 2.65 and 2.91 kg DM of Guinea grass, non-molasses cassava tops silage and molasses cassava tops silage diet, respectively. Crude protein intake was significantly improved in the cassava tops silage diets. The apparent digestibility of DM, OM, CP, NDF and ADF decreased with the silage supplement diets. No significant difference in digestibility was found between the non-molasses and molasses silage diets. The digestibility coefficient of DM, OM, CP, NDF, ADF in non-molasses cassava tops silage and molasses cassava tops silage was 49.4, 52.1, 45.81, 36.6, 27.7 and 49.7, 51.9, 47.55, 28.1, 19.5, respectively. It is concluded that cassava tops can be preserved successfully by ensiling and that cassava tops silage is a good feed resource for cattle.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.195-201
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• 2013

A lab-scale ensiling study was carried out to investigate the fermentation quality of water hyacinth (WH) supplemented with molasses, rice bran, as an absorbent, and an inoculant in the form of fermented vegetable juice and their combinations. After wilting the water hyacinths for 7 h to a dry matter (DM) content of 240 to 250 g/kg, the following treatments were applied: i) Control (C), WH only; ii) WH with sugarcane molasses at 40 g/kg WH (CM); iii) WH inoculated with fermented vegetable juice at 10 ml/kg WH (CI); iv) CM and CI (CMI) combined; v) WH with 150 g rice bran/kg WH (CA); vi) CA and CI combined (CAI); vii) CA and CM combined (CAM); and viii) CA, CM and CI combined (CAMI). After application of additives, the differently treated forages were mixed and ensiled in triplicates in 1,500-ml polyethylene jars. After ensiling for 3 d, pH values in all treatments, except C and CI, had decreased to approximately 4.0 and remained low till 14 d. After 56 d, pH had increased between 0.4 to 0.9 pH-units compared to those at 14 d. The ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N) concentration ranged from an acceptable level in treatment CM (8 g/kg N) to a high $NH_3$-N value in treatment CMI (16 g/kg N). Lactic acid formation was higher in CI than in all other treatments. Butyric acid contents, which indicate badly fermented silages, were low in all silages (<2 g/kg DM). There were two-way interactions (p-values from <0.001 to 0.045) for almost all fermentation end-products and pH, except for the molasses${\times}$inoculant interaction on $NH_3$-N (p = 0.26). Significant 3-way interactions were found on all observed variables except for weight losses of silages. It is concluded that conserving wilted WH as silage for ruminants may be improved by the addition of molasses or rice bran.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.177-184
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• 2005

This study was conducted to study the effect of fiber sources on ruminal pH and buffering capacity and whole digestive tract digestibility with five ruminally fistulated sheep. Evaluated fiber sources were alfalfa hay cube (AHC), corn cob (CC), com silage (CS), cotton seed hull (CSH), peanut hull (PHL), rice straw (RS), and sugarcane bagasse (SCB). Sheep were fed consecutively a diet containing each tested fiber source $(45\%)$ with a corn-based concentrate diets $(55\%)$ during each experimental period. Ruminal pH showed no difference among fiber sources except the significantly lower pH at 8h (p<0.05) with RS (pH; 5.78) than those in other sources. Buffering capacity showed significant differences at 0h (p<0.05) and 2h (p<0.05) after feeding in CS compared to those from SCB and CC, while there was higher in PHL (p<0.01) at 12h post feeding except AHC than CC, CS, SCB, and RS. Dry matter digestibility was significantly higher in CS (p<0.001) than in other sources. Neutral detergent fiber digestibility was higher in CC, CS, CSH, and RS than other fiber sources (p<0.001). These results suggest that ruminal pH and buffering capacity and whole digestive track digestibility were significantly affected by fiber sources in ruminant diet, and, therefore, should be took those effects into account for TMR formulation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1738-1742
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• 2003

The whole plant of crop maize was chopped and ensiled in double-layered polyethylene bags to determine the influence of residual sugar on the fermentation of lactic acid and aerobic stability by L. buchneri in whole crop maize silage made in airstress condition. There were a total of six treatments used in this experiment as follow: added 25 g de-mineralised water per kg chopped maize serving as control (con), 37.5 g glucose solution containing 12.5 g glucose ($g_1$), 75 g glucose solution containing 25 g glucose ($g_2$), 25 g, L,.buchneri suspension intended for $10^6$ cfu $g^{-1}$ (L.b.), $g_1$+L.b. and $g_2$+L.b. All silos were opened at day 91 after ensiling for measuring the pH values, microbiological enumeration, fermentative products and aerobic stability. The dry matter loss increased significantly (p<0.01) due to inclusion of sugar or L. buchneri. The lower lactic acid concentrations were observed (p<0.01) in silages inoculated with L. buchneri only or in combination with sugar addition than the correspondent uninoculated silages. Compared with control silage, ethanol production was about 3 or 6-fold higher due to addition 12.5 or 25 g glucose per kg chopped maize at ensiling. The silages added with sugar contained less acetic acid concentration (p<0.01) than control, but silages inoculated with L. buchneri showed the contrary effects (p<0.01) at different sugar levels. No butyric acid was found in uninoculated silages, silages inoculated with L. buchneri. producted more propionic acid, 1-propanol and butyric acid. Lactic acid bacteria counts increased markedly (p<0.01) due to inoculation with L. buchneri, whereas it was reduced (p<0.01) by added sugar. No significant difference was observed in count of yeast, but inoculation with L. buchneri shows a decreasing trend. Mould count in all silages was less than 2 (log cfu $g^{-1}$). The added sugar had negative effects on aerobic stability of maize silage made under air-stress conditions, whereas inoculation with L. buchneri improves (p<0.01) the aerobic stability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.80-85
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• 2004

The purpose of this experiment was to assess seasonal variation of feed utilization by feed sources and to obtain information on the use of feed resources by comparing seasonal changes of dry matter intake, digestibility, nitrogen balance and feeding behavior in spotted deer (Cervus nippon) fed forest by-product silage (FBS) and corn silage (CS). Dry matter intake (DMI) of FBS was higher than that of CS in both winter and summer. While DMI of both diets was higher in summer, this was not significant at the 5% level. In contrast to DMI, digestible dry matter intake (DDMI) was higher for CS than for FBS in both seasons, but the difference was not significant. Digestibility of dry matter and crude protein was significantly higher (p<0.01) for CS than for FBS, whereas digestibility of crude fiber was significantly higher (p<0.01) for FBS than for CS in both seasons. Seasonal digestibility of dry matter and crude fiber for FBS was significantly greater (p<0.01) in summer than in winter: In summer, seasonal digestibility was 57.2% for dry matter and 55.5% for crude fiber, and in winter, 50.8% for dry matter and 30.7% for crude fiber. On the other hand, seasonal digestibility of crude protein was higher (p<0.01) in winter (42.1%) than in summer (32.3%). No significant difference (p>0.05) was found between the two seasons and diets for nitrogen intake (NI), 18.7 g/d in summer and 19.4 g/d in winter for FBS, 17.7 g/d in summer and 17.7 g/d in winter for CS. Fecal nitrogen was higher (p<0.01) for FBS than for CS and varied little seasonally. There was significant difference (p<0.01) between two seasons in urinary nitrogen, which was little difference between two diets. Retained nitrogen (RN) was different significantly (p<0.01) between two diets in both seasons, but there was little difference between seasons. Deer usually spent longer time on eating FBS than eating CS. Eating FBS took 221 min in summer and 187 min in winter, whereas eating CS took 113 min in summer and 109 min in winter. Deer spent less time on eating food in winter than in summer. Time spent on rumination was longer for FBS than for CS: for FBS, 504 min in summer and 456 min in winter, for CS, 423 min in summer and 279 min in winter. Time varied seasonally with both diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.643-648
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• 2005

Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has become increasingly used as a rapid, accurate method of evaluating some chemical constituents in cereal grains and forages. If samples could be analyzed without drying and grinding, then sample preparation time and costs may be reduced. This study was conducted to develop robust NIRS equations to predict fermentation quality of corn (Zea mays) silage and to select acceptable sample preparation methods for prediction of fermentation products in corn silage by NIRS. Prior to analysis, samples (n = 112) were either oven-dried and ground (OD), frozen in liquid nitrogen and ground (LN) and intact fresh (IF). Samples were scanned from 400 to 2,500 nm with an NIRS 6,500 monochromator. The samples were divided into calibration and validation sets. The spectral data were regressed on a range of dry matter (DM), pH and short chain organic acids using modified multivariate partial least squares (MPLS) analysis that used first and second order derivatives. All chemical analyses were conducted with fresh samples. From these treatments, calibration equations were developed successfully for concentrations of all constituents except butyric acid. Prediction accuracy, represented by standard error of prediction (SEP) and $R^2_{v}$ (variance accounted for in validation set), was slightly better with the LN treatment ($R^2$ 0.75-0.90) than for OD ($R^2$ 0.43-0.81) or IF ($R^2$ 0.62-0.79) treatments. Fermentation characteristics could be successfully predicted by NIRS analysis either with dry or fresh silage. Although statistical results for the OD and IF treatments were the lower than those of LN treatment, intact fresh (IF) treatment may be acceptable when processing is costly or when possible component alterations are expected.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.187-198
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• 1997

This experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of wilting and additives on fermetation characteristics, quality and aerobic stability of silage of rye(Seca1e cereale L.) harvested at the early heading stage. Harvested rye was wilted or mixed with beet pulp and then treated with formic acid or lactic acid bacteria(LAB) inoculant. Treatments were consisted of direct cut(DC), wilted(WT), beet pulp added(BP), direct cut and formate applied(DF), wilted and formate applied(WF), beet pulp and formate applied(BF), direct cut and LAB inoculated(DL), beet pulp added and LAB inoculated(BL), and wilted and LAB inoculated(WL) silages. Afler 70 days of ensiling period, the silages were opened and exposed to air for 7 days, and the silages of opening day(0 day) were compared with the silages exposed to air for 7 days(7 day). 1. LAB inoculated rye silages(DL, WL, BL) lowered pH values effectively eom the third day of ensiling and showed most stable pattern of pH changes during the initial fermentation process. Direct cut and formate applied(DF), beet pulp and formate applied(BF) and beet pulp added(BP) silages were also effective in lowering pH from the seventh day thai direct cut treatment(DC). 2. pH was low below 3.7 in all treatments of 0 day. After 7-day period of aerobic exposure, DL and WL showed considerable increases in pH from 3.5 and 3.4 to 8.3 and 6.4, respectively. 3. Direct cut rye silages(DF, DC, DL) and beet pulp and formate treatment(BF) produced effluent of 121.2, 85.9, 80.3 and 34.2 mlkg, respectively and these were greater than others(P<0.01). Beet pulp retained 1.61 I/kg of effluent at the application rate of 50 kg/t in comparing BP with DC, and formate application increased the amount of effluent in comparing DF and BF with DC and BP, respectively(P<0.01). 4. Beet pulp and LAB treatment(B1) was highest in content of lactate as 3.1% and formate treated silages(DF, WF, BF) showed lower content of lactate and total acid than others. LAB inoculated(D1, WL, BL) and wilted (WT) silages were graded to be good quality as a second group by the Flieg's score. Formate applied silages (DF, WF, BF) were graded as a foum group lower than DC by one. 5. Residual content of WSC of rye silage was higher in BP, BF, DL and BL than direct cut treatment(M3) (P< 0.01). Formate application had a tendency to increase the content of residual content of WSC. 6. For the ratio of NH3-N to Total N, wilted and LAB inoculated(W1) and direct cut and LAB inoculated(D1) silages were lowest on 0 day as 8.9 and 9.3% respectively. But after 7-day period of aerobic exposure, WL and DL showed largest increase of the ratio of $NH_3-N$ to Total N from 0 day(P<0.01). 7. On 0 day wilted(WT), beet pulp and formate treatment(BF), and beet pulp and LAB treatment(B1) were lower than direct cut treatment(DC) for NDF and ADF concentrations consistently. Formate applied silages (DF, WF, BF) made little change in ADF and NDF concentrations during 7 day period of aerobic exposure. DL and WL showed a large increase in ADF and NDF concentrations under aerobic condition(P<0.01). 8. IVDMD values of wilted(WT), beet pulp added(BP), wilted and LAB inoculated(W1) and beet pulp added and LAB inoculated(B1) silages were higher than direct-cut treatmentPC) as 84.7, 84.7, 84.4 and 83.0%, respectively on 0 day. But during 7-day period of aerobic exposure, a great decreae in IVDMD of WL was showed(P<0.01). The experimental results indicate that wilted silage(WT) could be recommended as the most effective treatment for reducing efluent and increasing quality and feed value of rye silage without deteriorating aerobic stability more than direct cut treatment(DC). Additionally, under unfavorable weather condition beet pulp added and LAB inoculated treatment(T3L) might be the possible alternative for successful ensiling of forage rye.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 1995

Broiler processing waste(offal) was homogenized and treated with the combination of acids. The offal was autolyzed(ensiled) at $25^{\circ}C$ for 72 hrs and analyzed for pH and fatty acid profile. The proximate composition and microbial content change of the autolyzed offal by mixing with wheat bran and ovendrying were evaluated. The initial pH value of the homogenized offal, 6.52 came down to 2.75 within 5 min after acidification and increased silightly to $3.06{\sim}2.92$ during autolysis. The proximate composition and fatty acid profile of the autolyzed offal were not substantially different from the unautoylzed offal. However, the log CFU(colony forming units)/g of total plate counts and fungal counts decreased from 7.45 and 7.11 to 3.39 and 2.03 after autolysis, respectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.901-906
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• 2010

The improvement of the fermentation quality of rice straw silage by application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and glucose was investigated in this study. Sixteen rice varieties were harvested at the maturity stage and the rice straw was ensiled with LAB inoculant ($1{\times}10^5$ cfu/g of fresh weight) and glucose (2% of fresh weight). Inoculation with LAB improved the fermentation as reflected in reductions in pH, acetic acid (by 3.7 to 78.3%), butyric acid (by -6.0 to 100.0%) and ammonia nitrogen (by 1.0 to 71.7%) concentrations, and increases in lactic acid (by 43.9 to 282.9%) and crude protein concentrations compared with the control. Application of LAB plus glucose was more effective in improving fermentation quality than LAB alone. The variety of rice straw which contained relatively high levels of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) tended to obtain better fermentation quality. The results suggested that LAB application and selection of rice varieties whose straw contained high levels of WSC were effective in improvement of the fermentation quality of rice straw silage.