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 5 Effects of harvest period, dose of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and their interaction on Acetic acid and NH₃–N 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
Acetic acid (%)
3	1.39^a	1.22^b	1.10a	1.31^ab	1.44^b	1.39^b	1.10^a	1.39^ab	1.49^bc	1.62^c	1.08^a	1.26^ab	1.39^ab	1.17^ab	0.05	< 0.05	< 0.05	0.21
7	1.50	1.41	1.17^a	1.52^b	1.51^b	1.63^b	1.02^a	1.65^bc	1.53^bc	1.76^c	1.32^ab	1.37^ab	1.51^bc	1.46^bc	0.06	0.33	< 0.05	0.06
21	1.60	1.78	1.43	1.65	1.75	1.93	1.36	1.39	1.60	1.90	1.44	1.91	1.83	1.95	0.07	0.16	0.07	0.48
42	1.95	2.24	2.00	2.06	2.02	2.31	1.73	1.76	1.88	2.26	2.18	2.31	2.16	2.31	0.10	0.20	0.71	0.87
NH₃–N (%)
3	0.82	0.82	1.13^b	0.70^a	0.66^a	0.79^a	1.19^c	0.84^abc	0.70^ab	0.55^a	1.07^bc	0.57^a	0.63^a	1.02^bc	0.06	0.98	< 0.01	< 0.05
7	1.28	1.15	1.47^b	1.19^a	1.03^a	1.14^a	1.59^b	1.36^ab	1.08^a	1.07^a	1.36^ab	1.03^a	0.99^a	1.21^ab	0.06	0.17	< 0.05	0.31
21	1.87	1.64	1.99	1.78	1.60	1.65	2.10	1.83	1.65	1.92	1.88	1.73	1.56	1.38	0.08	0.15	0.36	0.72
42	2.24	1.93	2.43	2.13	1.75	2.03	2.43	2.41	1.98	2.14	2.44	1.85	1.53	1.92	0.10	0.14	0.16	0.41

^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