Lactobacillus plantarum LPBR01 as inoculant in sugarcane silage

ABSTRACT. Sugar cane is highly productive (dry matter.hectare-1), but after ensiling process nutritional quality is affected, thus additives are needed to control or minimize losses. This study aimed to evaluate if Lactobacillus plantarum LPBR01 strain used as silage inoculant for sugar cane can control fermentation losses. Sugar cane samples (72) were divided in two treatments with three replicates, control (no Lactobacillus) and treatment silage with Lactobacillus (106 CFU g-1 of silage). Nutritional composition of samples in different periods of fermentation (0, 7, 15, 30 and 45 days) was estimated by determining levels of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), hemicellulose (HEM), mineral matter (MM) and acid detergent lignin (ADL). Fermentative profile of the silage was characterized by determining sugars, ammoniacal nitrogen, acidity and pH at 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 hours. Inoculation of sugar cane silage with Lactobacillus plantarum LPBR01 strain presented no significant results (p ≤ 0, 5) however, interaction between treatment and day (p ≤ 0, 5) could be observed for the levels of ADF. The Lactobacillus plantarum LPBR01 strain was not efficient to control the fermentation losses that occur in the silages of sugar cane at the concentration used in this study.