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 4 Effects of harvest period, dose of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and their interaction on pH and lactic acid 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
pH
3	3.92	3.95	3.96	3.94	3.92	3.92	3.95	3.92	3.90	3.89	3.97	3.96	3.93	3.94	0.01	0.14	0.43	0.97
7	3.82^a	3.91^b	3.89	3.87	3.85	3.85	3.84^ab	3.83^ab	3.81^a	3.80^a	3.93^c	3.90^bc	3.89^bc	3.90^bc	0.01	< 0.01	0.31	0.86
21	3.75^a	3.89^b	3.89^d	3.83^c	3.76^a	3.81^b	3.85^d	3.77^c	3.63^a	3.73^b	3.92^e	3.89^e	3.88^de	3.88^de	0.02	< 0.01	< 0.01	< 0.01
42	3.71^a	3.86^b	3.83^b	3.82^b	3.73^a	3.78^b	3.76^b	3.75^b	3.61^a	3.71^b	3.89^c	3.87^c	3.84^c	3.85^c	0.02	< 0.01	< 0.01	0.09
Lactic acid (%)
3	5.24^a	4.85^b	4.75^a	4.85^a	5.37^b	5.21^ab	4.89^ab	4.97^ab	5.55^b	5.53^b	4.61^a	4.73^a	5.19^ab	4.88^ab	0.08	< 0.05	< 0.05	0.79
7	5.73	5.87	5.39	5.74	6.02	6.06	5.13	5.68	5.99	6.13	5.65	5.81	6.04	5.98	0.14	0.62	0.31	0.85
21	6.55	6.03	5.42^a	6.21^ab	7.10^b	6.42^b	4.95^a	6.49^b	8.07^c	6.69^b	5.89^ab	5.93^ab	6.13^ab	6.16^ab	0.16	0.11	< 0.05	< 0.05
42	7.49^a	6.27^b	6.15^a	6.29^a	7.94^c	7.12^b	6.27^a	6.41^a	9.38^c	7.89^b	6.04^a	6.18^a	6.50^a	6.35^a	0.10	< 0.01	< 0.01	< 0.01

^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