Effects of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum inoculation on the quality and bacterial community of whole-crop corn silage at different harvest stages

Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture

Table 2 Effects of harvest period, dose of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and their interactions on DM, starch and CP concentrations

Ensiling days	Harvest stage		Dose of L.p² (cfu/g)				Treatment¹								SEM	P value
Ensiling days	Milk stage	Dough stage	0	1 × 10⁶	1 × 10⁷	1 × 10⁸	ZM	LM	MM	HM	ZD	LD	MD	HD	SEM	Harvest stage	Dose of L.p²	Harvest stage × dose of L.p²
DM (%)
3	28.90^a	37.01^b	32.69	33.36	32.68	33.10	28.92^a	28.73^a	28.80^a	29.16^a	36.46^b	37.98^b	36.55^b	37.03^b	0.86	< 0.01	0.55	0.42
7	28.59^a	37.26^b	32.42	32.89	33.42	32.96	28.46^a	28.46^a	29.19^a	28.22^a	36.38^b	37.31^b	37.65^b	37.70^b	0.93	< 0.01	0.42	0.60
21	27.91^a	36.26^b	32.26	31.43	32.50	32.14	28.18^a	27.13^a	27.94^a	28.38^a	36.34^b	35.73^b	37.06^b	35.89^b	0.96	< 0.01	0.86	0.94
42	27.60^a	34.96^b	30.79	30.72	31.66	31.97	27.29^a	27.24^a	27.87^a	28.01^a	34.29^b	34.19^b	35.44^b	35.92^b	0.82	< 0.01	0.38	0.93
Starch (%)
3	29.21^a	32.55^b	30.47	30.85	31.40	30.79	28.80^a	29.37^a	29.72^a	28.94^a	32.14^b	32.32^b	33.09^b	32.64^b	0.21	< 0.01	0.47	0.94
7	28.41^a	31.62^b	29.61	30.27	30.92	29.27	27.65^a	28.80^ab	29.31^ab	27.89^a	31.57^bc	31.75^b	32.53^c	30.64^abc	0.33	< 0.01	0.34	0.93
21	28.09^a	30.62^b	28.74^a	29.65^ab	30.00^b	29.03^ab	27.12^a	28.42^ab	29.13^b	27.70^ab	30.36^c	30.8^c	30.88^c	30.36^c	0.19	< 0.01	< 0.05	0.60
42	27.08^a	29.31^b	27.77	27.92	28.78	28.31	26.85^a	26.91^ab	27.24^ab	27.32^ab	28.68^bc	28.92^c	30.32^c	29.30^c	0.19	< 0.01	0.25	0.63
CP (%)
3	7.53	7.52	7.58	7.39	7.56	7.56	7.62	7.35	7.58	7.56	7.54	7.42	7.54	7.57	0.06	0.92	0.68	0.98
7	7.37	7.29	7.34	7.24	7.41	7.33	7.44	7.31	7.37	7.35	7.24	7.18	7.45	7.30	0.04	0.41	0.63	0.72
21	7.23	7.12	7.28	7.10	7.25	7.08	7.34	7.19	7.29	7.12	7.21	7.01	7.21	7.05	0.06	0.32	0.50	0.98
42	7.05	7.05	7.19	6.92	7.08	7.00	7.24	6.91	6.98	7.06	7.13	6.94	7.19	6.94	0.06	0.97	0.49	0.76

^a,b,cValues with different superscripts in the same row within each trial factor in the same row (harvest stage, L. plantarum addition and each treatment group) indicate a significant difference (P < 0.05)
¹ZM: 0 cfu/g of L. plantarum + milk stage; LM: 1 × 10⁶ cfu/g of L. plantarum + milk stage; MM: 1 × 10⁷ cfu/g of L. plantarum + milk stage; HM: 1 × 10⁸ cfu/g of L. plantarum + milk stage; ZD: 0 cfu/g of L. plantarum + dough stage; LD: 1 × 10⁶ cfu/g of L. plantarum + dough stage; MD: 1 × 10⁷ cfu/g of L. plantarum + dough stage; HD: 1 × 10⁸ cfu/g of L. plantarum + dough stage
²L.p: L. plantarum