Effects of a mixture of Lentilactobacillus hilgardii, Lentilactobacillus buchneri, Pediococcus pentosaceus and fibrolytic enzymes on silage fermentation, aerobic stability, and performance of growing beef cattle

Jayakrishnan Nair; Hee-Eun Yang; Abby-Ann Redman; Eric Chevaux; Pascal Drouin; Tim A McAllister; Yuxi Wang

doi:10.1093/tas/txac144

Effects of a mixture of Lentilactobacillus hilgardii, Lentilactobacillus buchneri, Pediococcus pentosaceus and fibrolytic enzymes on silage fermentation, aerobic stability, and performance of growing beef cattle

Transl Anim Sci. 2022 Nov 11;6(4):txac144. doi: 10.1093/tas/txac144. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Authors

Jayakrishnan Nair^{1

2}, Hee-Eun Yang², Abby-Ann Redman², Eric Chevaux³, Pascal Drouin⁴, Tim A McAllister², Yuxi Wang²

Affiliations

¹ School of Agricultural Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 62901.
² Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge Research and Development Centre, Lethbridge AB, T1J 4B1, Canada.
³ Lallemand SAS, Blagnac, 31702, France.
⁴ Lallemand Inc., Montreal, H1W 2N8, Canada.

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of novel silage inoculants containing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and fibrolytic enzymes on ensiling, aerobic stability (AS), and the performance of growing beef cattle. Whole-plant corn forage was either uninoculated (CON) or inoculated with a mixture of LAB containing (cfu g^-1 fresh forage) 1.5 × 10⁵ L. hilgardii (CNCM I-4785), 1.5 × 10⁵ L. buchneri (NCIMB 40788) and 1.0 × 10⁵ P. pentosaceus (NCIMB 12455) for a total of 4.0 × 10⁵ cfu g^-1 fresh forage LAB (IB), or a combination of IB plus fibrolytic enzymes (xylanase + β-glucanase) (IC). All treatments were ensiled in mini-silos, whereas CON and IC were also ensiled in silo bags for the growth performance study. Total bacteria (TB) counts were lower (P = 0.02) for IC than CON after 14 d of ensiling, whereas TB counts of IC and IB were greater (P ≤ 0.01) than CON after 60 d of ensiling in mini-silos. The LAB in IC and IB ensiled in mini-silos were greater than CON on d 60 (P ≤ 0.01) and 90 (P ≤ 0.001) of ensiling and after 3 d (P ≤ 0.01) of aerobic exposure (AE). Silage pH of IC ensiled in silo bags was lower than CON on d 3 (P < 0.01), 7 (P < 0.001), and 14 (P = 0.02) of AE. Yeast counts were lower for IC than CON in terminal silage (P < 0.001), and after 3 (P < 0.001) and 7 d (P < 0.01) of AE. Acetate (AC) concentrations were higher (P ≤ 0.02) for IC than CON throughout AE, whereas lactate (LA) concentrations of IC were greater than CON on d 3 (P < 0.001), 7 (P < 0.01), and 14 (P < 0.001) of AE. Greater AC concentration and lower yeast counts resulted in greater (P < 0.001) stability for IC ensiled in silo bags than CON after 14 d of AE. Growth performance of steers was similar (P > 0.05) as the nutrient composition of silage was similar across diets. Improved AS of IC could potentially have a greater impact on DMI, production efficiency, and growth performance in large-scale commercial feedlot operations where silage at the silo face may be exposed to air for longer periods of time.

Keywords: Lentilactobacillus hilgardii; beef cattle; growth performance; heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria; silage aerobic stability; whole-plant corn silage.