Effect of Inoculants and Sealing Delay on the Fermentation Quality of Early Harvested Wheat Forage

Simple Summary: Winter cereal silages are becoming a crucial component of dairy nutrition for Mediterranean countries, partially replacing maize silage even in high-producing cows. Concerns regarding the definition of their final quality and the potential for aerobic deterioration, leading to loss of dry matter, feed intake, and milk yield, need to be investigated. We evaluate the effect of different ensiling conditions, including the use of inoculants and freshly harvested plant composition, on the final silage quality, and the most relevant risk factors associated with the silage's aerobic deterioration. The dry matter at harvest affected the entire final silage quality, and acetic acid varies between the control (pure water) and the hetero-/homofermentative. The aerobic stability for all samples was 59.2 +/- 23.6 h without statistical differences within the thesis, ensuring a sufficient time for a convenient silo unload rate. Winter cereal silages can suffer from an inadequate fermentative path which can lead to aerobic instability. We evaluate the pre-ensiled conditions influencing the final fermentative quality and its aerobic stability. We studied the use of hetero/homofermentative inoculants on two early-harvest wheat samples (312 and 348 g/kg of dry matter-DM levels) undergoing three ensiling delays. The fermentative profiles were evaluated during the first ten d of ensiling, at 60 d and after 7 and 14 d of aerobic exposure. Aerobic stability was recorded during fourteen d after the silo opening. Significant (p < 0.05) differences of the final fermentative profile were related mainly to DM levels at harvest, while the use of the inoculant affected only the acetic acid significantly. Finally, the sealing delay did not significantly affect the silage fermentative profile. The overall aerobic stability was 59.2 +/- 23.6 h, and cumulative temperatures were lower than 438 for seven d of aerobic exposure and higher than 1526 for 14 d. Although the homofermentative inoculants reduced the counts of yeasts in the final silage for the earlier harvested wheat, the other samples showed yeasts counts of similar to 4.9 Log10 colony-forming units/g, with the presence of spoilage fungi (Pichia and Geotricum).