Authors: TAYLAN AKSU, SHAMİL VALİDOV, LİLİİA KARİMOVA, MURAT DEMİREL, TANER LEVENDOĞLU, SİBEL ERDOĞAN, MEHTAP GÜNEY

Abstract: To develop the approach for efficient alfalfa silage fermentation, L. plantarum strain RC1.4 (LP-RC1.4) was used as starter culture with or without sucrose. Trial groups consisted of ten repetitions for each treatment including (1) control, with added sterile water (10 mL); (2) LP, silages treated with LP-RC1.4 alone (106 cfu g$^{-1}$ FM); (3) LP-S1, silages treated with LP-RC1.4 (10$^{6}$ cfu g$^{-1}$ FM) plus sucrose at 10 g/kg fresh matter; (4) LP-S$_{2}$, silages treated with LP-RC1.4 (106 cfu g-1 FM) plus sucrose at 20 g kg$^{-1}$ fresh matter. Inoculation improved the quality of the silaging demonstrating a lower decrease of silage dry matter (DM) in comparison to the control silage. The CO2 production was also lower in the inoculated silages. The addition of sucrose improved microbiological and biochemical parameters of the resulting alfalfa silage, simultaneously with the increased number of lactobacilli, raised the content of water-soluble carbohydrates, while the number of yeasts and molds decreased. It was concluded that LP-RC1.4 inoculation should be supported with sucrose to insure domination of LAB fermentation and enhance of the silage quality of alfalfa.

Keywords: L. plantarum, sucrose, alfalfa silage, fermentation quality, aerobic stability

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