Nutritive value of sorghum silage inoculated with lactic acid bacteria and enzymes

Abstract

Studies about microbial inoculation of sorghum silage are scarce. The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the effects of microbial inoculated sorghum silage in total digestibility in ovines. Eight male sheeps were assigned to a crossover design in two periods (8 animals/treatment). The treatments were: sorghum silage (28.9% DM and 7.7% CP, on average) control or microbial inoculated with Sill-All product (S. faecium, P. acidilactici, L. plantarum, amylases, hemicellulases and cellulases). Each period extended for twenty-one days, the last five used for feces and urine collection. Inoculated or control silages did not differ for total digestibility of DM (inoculated = 54.1% vs. control = 52.2%), CP (36.9% vs. 36.2%), FNE (56.7% vs. 53.9%), CF (55.8% vs. 53.7%), NDF (48.8% vs. 46.5%), ADF (48.1% vs. 44.3%), starch (93.1% vs. 93.3%), TDN (52.7% vs. 50.2%), N retention (–1.4 vs. –1.8g of N/animal/day) or DM intake (1.72% vs. 1.64% of BW), but inoculation tended (p=0.0522) to decrease digestibility of EE (66.8% vs. 69.6%).