Fermented Juice of Epiphytic Lactic Acid Bacteria and Molasses Addition on the Fermentation Characteristics and Nutrient Compositions of Sorghum Silage

Abstract

S orghum is becoming important forage especially in tropical regions because of its adaptability to environments with limited rainfall, high temperature and low soil fertility, and acceptable energy values and relatively high apparent dry matter degradability (>600g/kg DM) (Carbal Filho et al., 2005).Considerations with forage shortage during summer time, forage were conserved through the fermentation process of ensiling.However, the difficulty in ensiling of tropical forages is low concentration of WSC (McDonald et al., 1991), which resulted in lower fermentation quality, intake, and digestibility.Thus, the additives such as fermentation stimulants, fermentation inhibitors, aerobic deterioration inhibitors, nutrients and absorbents should be used to obtain the good quality silage.Whole-crop cereal silages, such as corn and sorghum, are susceptible to aerobic deterioration, especially in warm climates (Filya, 2003).This is due to aerobic yeasts which are most active at 20-30˚C (Ashbell et al., 2002).Therefore, it is very important to find suitable additives that inhibit fungi and protect the silage against aerobic exposure.Among the several silage additives, molasses is the well-known additive for ensiling, and the fermented juice of epiphytic lactic acid bacteria (FJLB) is also the technique which has the ability to increase the silage quality of tropical forages.Lukkananukool et al. (