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. 2021 Jul 7:12:687481.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.687481. eCollection 2021.

Effects of Delayed Harvest and Additives on Fermentation Quality and Bacterial Community of Corn Stalk Silage

Linna Guo  1   2 , Yongxiang Lu  3 , Ping Li  1   3 , Liangyin Chen  1 , Wenlong Gou  3 , Changbin Zhang  3
Affiliations

Effects of Delayed Harvest and Additives on Fermentation Quality and Bacterial Community of Corn Stalk Silage

Linna Guo et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of delayed harvest and additives on the fermentation quality and bacterial community of corn stalk silage in South China. The corn stalks after ear harvest at the 0 day (D0), 7 days (D7), and 15 days (D15) were used to produce small-bale silages. The silages at each harvest time were treated without (control, CK) or with Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) and sodium benzoate (BF). The results showed that delayed harvest increased pH and acetic acid content and reduced lactic acid content in corn stalk silage (p < 0.05). Compared with CK, the additives decreased the contents of butyric acid and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N; p < 0.05). The silage treated with LP increased the content of lactic acid and decreased pH (p < 0.05); the silage treated with BF decreased counts of coliform bacteria and yeasts and increased residual water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) content (p < 0.05). Single Molecule, Real-Time sequencing (SMRT) revealed that the abundance of L. plantarum increased, while the abundance of Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus ginsenosidimutans decreased with the delayed harvest. Additives influenced the bacterial community structure of corn stalk silage, revealed by enhanced bacterial diversity on D0 and reduced on D7 (p < 0.05). Our research indicated that delayed harvest could exert a positive effect on acetic acid production, and additives could inhibit the butyric acid fermentation and protein degradation of corn stalk silage by shifting bacterial community composition.

Keywords: Lactobacillus plantarum; bacterial community; corn stalk silage; delayed harvest; sodium benzoate.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Microbial composition of corn stalk silages treated without (CK) or with L. plantarum and BF. D0, D7, and D15 indicated corn stalks after 0, 7, and 15 days of ear harvest; SEM, standard of error mean; *significance at p < 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) analysis of bacterial community structure of corn stalk silages treated without (CK) or with L. plantarum and BF. D0, D7, and D15 indicated stay-green corn stalks after 0, 7, and 15 days of ear harvest.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Relative abundance of top 10 bacterial species in corn stalk silages treated without (CK) or with L. plantarum and BF. D0, D7, and D15 indicated corn stalks after 0, 7, and 15 days of ear harvest.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spearman analysis between silage parameters and bacterial species. *significance at p < 0.05; **significance at p < 0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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