THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND LACTOBACILLUS-AMYLOVORUS AND LACTOBACILLUS-PLANTARUM, APPLIED AT ENSILING, ON WHEAT SILAGE

The effects of applying Lactobacillus plantarum and Lact. amylovorus a t ensiling on wheat silage stored at 25 and 40 degrees C was studied u nder laboratory conditions, The inoculants were applied at 10(6) cfu g (-1). Silages with no additives served as controls. Three jars per tre atment were sampled on days 2, 8 and 60 after ensiling, for chemical a nd microbiological analyses. After the ensiling period, the silages we re subjected to an aerobic stability test. The control and Lact. plant arum inoculated wheat fermented faster at 25 than at 41 degrees C, whe reas silages inoculated with Lact. amylovorus fermented faster at 41 d egrees C. This was apparent from the rate of pH decrease and from the contents of residual sugars and lactic acid in the final silages. The numbers of lactobacilli in the control and Lact. plantarum silages at 41 degrees C after 2 and 8 days of ensiling were lower than in the cor responding silages at 25 degrees C. For the Lact. amylovorus silage th e opposite held true, The control silages at both temperatures and the Lact. plantarum silage at 41 degrees C were the most stable silages u nder aerobic exposure.