TY - JOUR ID - 1475 TI - The effects of a microbial inoculant and formic acid as silage additives on chemical composition, ruminal degradability and nutrient digestibility of corn silage in sheep JO - Iranian Journal of Veterinary Research JA - IJVR LA - en SN - 1728-1997 AU - Rowghani, Rowghani, E. AU - Zamiri, M. J. AD - Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran Y1 - 2009 PY - 2009 VL - 10 IS - 2 SP - 110 EP - 118 KW - Silage additives KW - Formic acid KW - Propionic acid bacteria KW - Digestibility DO - 10.22099/ijvr.2009.1475 N2 - The effects of a microbial inoculant (containing propionic and lactic acid bacteria) and formic acid onchemical composition, ruminal degradability of dry matter (DM) and nutrient digestibility of corn silage wereexamined. Whole-plant corn was ensiled for 60 days in plastic polyethylene bags, and three treatments werecompared, 1: control (no additive), 2: Propionibacterium acidipropionici plus Lactobacillus plantarum at 3 ×1010 cfu/g of fresh forage, and 3: formic acid (98%) at 2.41/t fresh forage. The silages were subjected tochemical analysis, DM degradability and nutrients digestibility in sheep. At the end of ensiling period,treatment 3 had significantly higher (P<0.05) content of crude protein (CP), lactic acid, total acids, DMrecovery and pH values than other treatments. Treatment 2 had the lowest pH value, the highest level ofpropionic acid, and the lowest level of butyric and total acids (P<0.05). No traces of ethanol were detectedfor neither of silages. CP digestibility was higher (P<0.05) for treatment 1 compared with others, while etherextract (EE) digestibility was higher (P<0.05) for treatments 1 and 3 compared with treatment 2. EffectiveDM degradability was higher for treatment 3. All silages went under rapid fermentation and were wellpreserved and treatment 2 was more stable after opening. The degree of improvement in fermentation using microbial inoculant was lower than formic acid but expected to improve the aerobic stability by inhibition of yeast activity, especially in warm climates. UR - https://ijvr.shirazu.ac.ir/article_1475.html L1 - https://ijvr.shirazu.ac.ir/article_1475_6b33088e1a105ada1fba37c539f98f9a.pdf ER -