Effect of Lactobacillus brevis on the quality of whole plant cornsilages during aerobic exposure

The study was designed to explore the effect of Lactobacillus brevis on the silage quality of different varieties of maize during aerobic exposure. In this study, two maize (Zea mays) varieties, Xianyu 335 and Aoyu 5102, were selected; L. brevis (1 × 10⁵ cfu g^–1) was added to each species as a treatment group, and the same amount of distilled water was used as the control group to make the whole plant corn silage. The silage was opened 120 days later, and the fermentation quality and nutritional quality were sampled on 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 days after opening. As the number of aerobic exposure days increased, the pH value and ammonia nitrogen/total nitrogen (AN/TN) increased gradually, lactic acid (LA) content decreased gradually, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content increased gradually, and starch content decreased gradually. On day 0 after aerobic exposure, the LA content in the Xianyu 335 treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group, and the AN/TN was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). On day 3, the pH of the Xianyu 335 and Aoyu 5102 treatment groups was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The starch content on days 0, 1, and 3 was significantly higher in the Xianyu 335 treatment group than in the control group, and the NDF content at each period of aerobic exposure was lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). In summary, the addition of L. brevis can improve the fermentation and nutritional quality of Xianyu 335 and Aoyu 5102 during aerobic exposure.