Title: Effect of bacterial inoculants on the fermentation and preservation efficiencies and nutritive value of alfalfa silage for growing steers
Abstract: Two silage bacterial inoculants from Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. were evaluated using second-cutting a l falfa.The Pioneer brand 1174® inoculant and a Pioneer experimental inoculant each increased the rate and efficiency of the ensiling process in both farm-scale and laboratory-scal e silos.The two inoculants increase d the DM recovery in the farm-scale silos compared to the untreated silage.Steers fed the experimental inoculant-treated silage gained faster (P<.10) (2.56 vs. 2.37 lb per day), had a 4.0% higher DM intake, and were 4.3% more efficient than steers fed the untreated silage.The 1174-treated silage supported a numericall y but not statistically better steer performance than the control silage.When the DM recovery results were combined with the feed per gain results, the silages with 1174 and experimenta l inoculant produced 5.3 and 10.5 lb more steer gain per ton of crop ensiled, respectively, than the control silage.