Objective: This study investigated a method of preparing corn stover for Irpex lacteus (I. lacteus) treatment to improve its in vitro rumen degradability under non-sterile conditions.
Methods: Corn stover was inoculated with Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum), Lactobacillus buchneri (L. buchneri), and an equal mixture of these strains, and ensiled for 0, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days. After each period, a portion of the silage was sampled to assess the silage quality, and another portion of the silage was further treated with I. lacteus at 28°C for 28 d. All the samples were analyzed for fermentation quality, chemical composition, and in vitro gas production (IVGP) as a measure of rumen fermentation capacity.
Results: Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was found to improve the silage quality of the corn stover, and the corn stover silage inoculated with L. plantarum produced more lactic acid and higher IVGP than other silage groups. The I. lacteus colonies flourished in the early stage of corn stover silage, especially on the 3-d corn stover silage inoculated with both L. plantarum and L. buchneri. This led to an 18% decrease in the acid detergent lignin content, and a 49.6% increase in IVGP compared with the raw stover.
Conclusion: The combination of ensiling with the mixed LAB inoculation and I. lacteus treatment provided a cost-effective method for the improvement of the IVGP of corn stover from 164.8 mL/g organic matter (OM) to 246.6 mL/g OM.
Keywords: Corn Stover; Ensiling; In vitro Gas Production; Irpex Lacteus; Sterilization.