Aerobic stability of alfalfa silage and methods of its improvement

Abstract

Abstract Alfalfa is a non-silage crop, the silage of which became possible after the effect of drying was detected. A special feature of alfalfa is the intensive proteolysis that occurs during silage, and the prolonged development of undesirable microflora due to the slow acidification of feed. The objective of the research was to determine the effectiveness of the use of Biotrof, Biotrof 111, Biotrof 2+ and Biotal Axfast NS Gold in the silage of dried (37.07% SV) alfalfa mass. It was found that the use of these drugs contributed to the rapid acidification of feed to a pH of 3.97-4.08, against a pH of 4.96 in silage without additives, which led to the suppression of the vital activity of undesirable bacteria, a decrease in the breakdown of nutrients to gaseous products by 1.7-2.3 times and the accumulation of ammonia by 1.5-4.0 times. Due to the high resistance of alfalfa silage to aerobic spoilage, the use of bacterial preparations did not lead to an improvement in the aerobic stability of the silage, but by restraining the development of some yeasts, including pathogenic ones, and fungi of the Aspergillus sp. species, it helped to improve the sanitary status of the feed. Yeasts of the genera C. gattii and D. hansenii serve as marker organisms, an increase in the number of which indicates the occurrence of aerobic spoilage in the feed.