Fermentation quality of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) silages treated with encapsulated-glucose, glucose, sorbic acid and pre-fermented juices

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of adding encapsulated-glucose, glucose, sorbic acid or prefermented juice of epiphytic lactic acid bacteria (FJLB) on the fermentation quality and residual mono- and disaccharide composition of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam) silages. The additive treatments were as follows: (1) control (no addition), (2) encapsulated-glucose addition at 0.5% for glucose, (3) glucose addition at 1%, (4) sorbic acid addition at 0.1%, (5) FJLB addition at a theoretical application rate of 2.67×10⁵ CFU (colony forming unit) g^-1, on a fresh weight basis of Italian ryegrass. Although control and encapsulated-glucose treatments had higher contents of butyric acid (33.45, 21.50 g kg^-1 DM) and ammonia-N/Total nitrogen (114.91, 87.01 g kg^-1) as compared with the other treated silages, the fermentation in all silages was clearly dominated by lactic acid. This was well indicated by the low pH (4.38-3.59), and high lactic acid/acetic acid (4.39-22.97) and lactic acid content (46.85-121.76 g kg^-1 DM). Encapsulated-0.5% glucose and glucose addition increased lactic acid/acetic acid, and significantly (p<0.05) decreased ammonia-N/total nitrogen, and the contents of butyric acid and total volatile fatty acids (VFAs) as compared with the control. However, there were higher butyric acid and lower residual mono-and di-saccharides on the two treatments as compared with sorbic acid and FJLB addition, and their utilization efficiency of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) was lower than that of both sorbic acid and FJLB additions. Sorbic acid addition showed the lowest content of ethanol and ammonia-N/total nitrogen, and the highest content of residual fructose and total mono-and disaccharides as well as the higher lactic acid/acetic acid value. Sorbic acid addition decreased the loss of mono-and disaccharides, and inhibited the activity of clostridial and other undesirable bacteria, and greatly increased the utilization efficiency of fermentable substrates by epiphytic LAB. FJLB addition had the lowest pH value and the highest lactic acid content among all additive treatments, with the most intensive lactic acid fermentation occurring in FJLB treated silage. This resulted in the faster accumulation of lactic acid and faster pH reduction. Sorbic acid and FJLB addition depressed clostridia or other undesirable bacterial fermentation which decreased the WSC loss and saved the fermentable substrate for lactic acid fermentation.