Survival of inoculants in grass silages may enable them to improve the quality of silages through enrichment with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). | Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Turk J Agric For (2013) 37: 344-351 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Effects of microbial inoculants Enterococcus faecium EF2/3s and EF26/42 on microbial, chemical, and fermentation parameters in grass silage 1, 1 1 1 2 Zora VÁRADYOVÁ *, Dušan JALČ , Andrea LAUKOVÁ , Katarína MIHALIKOVÁ , Petr HOMOLKA 1 Department of Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract, Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia 2 Department of Nutrition and Feeding of Farm Animals, Research Institute of Animal Production, Prague 114, Uhříněves, Czech Republic Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: Survival of inoculants in grass silages may enable them to improve the quality of silages through enrichment with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The effects of 2 inoculants, Enterococcus faecium 2/3s (EF2/3s) and E. faecium 26/42 (EF26/42), on nutrient composition, fermentation parameters, and fatty acid content in grass silages during ensiling (111 days) of fresh grass (G) were examined under laboratory conditions. The G [285 g of dry matter (DM) kg–1] was ensiled in 36 polyethylene jars (1 L) divided into 3 × 12 sets per treatment and ensiled at 21 °C for 111 days. The 3 silage treatments used were: 1) grass without inoculant (GS, control), 2) grass inoculated by the strain EF2/3s (GS+EF2/3s), and 3) grass inoculated by the strain EF26/42 (GS+EF26/42). The inoculant strains were sufficiently established during ensiling and reached log10 cfu g–1 for EF2/3s and log10 cfu g–1 for EF26/42 on day 111 of ensiling. Crude protein contents were G > GS+EF2/3s > GS+EF26/42 > GS (129, 110, 109, and 100 g kg–1 of DM, respectively). The lactate-to-acetate ratios were GS GS+EF2/3s > GS+EF26/42 > GS (129, 110, 109, and 100 g kg–1 of DM, respectively). The value of NDF was the lowest in
