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 7 Effects of corn silage harvest period, dose of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and their interaction on the relative abundance of bacteria on the phylum level (ensiled for day 42)

Phylum	Harvest stage		Dose of L.p² (cfu/g)		Treatment¹				SEM	P value
Phylum	Milk stage	Dough stage	0	1 × 10⁷	ZM	MM	ZD	MD	SEM	Harvest stage	dose of L.p²	Harvest stage × dose of L.p²
Firmicutes	79.38^b	90.57^a	82.50^a	87.46^b	77.19^a	81.58^a	87.80^b	93.34^b	7.84	< 0.01	< 0.05	0.78
Proteobacteria	18.79^b	8.72^a	16.26^b	11.26^a	21.29^d	16.29^c	11.22^b	6.22^a	6.73	< 0.01	< 0.01	1.00
Bacteroidetes	0.88	0.41	0.77	0.52	0.95	0.80	0.59	0.23	0.68	0.11	0.37	0.70
Actinobacteria	0.50	0.18	0.30	0.38	0.37	0.63	0.22	0.14	0.44	0.08	0.63	0.34
Patescibacteria	0.21	0.01	0.01	0.20	0.02	0.39	0.01	0.01	0.47	0.31	0.33	0.35

^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; MM: 1 × 10⁷ cfu/g of L. plantarum + milk stage; ZD: 0 cfu/g of L. plantarum + dough stage; MD: 1 × 10⁷ cfu/g of L. plantarum + dough stage. The samples ensiled for 42 d were selected
²L.p: L. plantarum