Table 2 Microbial population, fermentation quality and chemical composition in FMB and WMB fermented feed

Microbial population (cfu/g of FM)

Lactic acid bacteria

6.0 × 10⁵

6.0 × 10⁷

4.0 × 10⁷

6.3 × 10⁷

1.8 × 10⁵

6.2 × 10⁷

5.9 × 10⁷

6.3 × 10⁷

–

–

–

–

Aerobic bacteria

5.0 × 10²

1.0 × 10⁴

1.0 × 10⁴

5.0 × 10²

1.7 × 10⁴

5.0 × 10²

5.5 × 10³

4.0 × 10³

–

–

–

–

Coliform bacteria

ND

ND

ND

ND

1.4 × 10⁵

ND

1.5 × 10³

ND

–

–

–

–

Clostridia

5.4 × 10⁴

ND

ND

ND

1.7 × 10³

ND

ND

ND

–

–

–

–

Yeast

ND

ND

ND

ND

5.0 × 10⁴

ND

7.0 × 10³

4.7 × 10⁴

–

–

–

–

Mould

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

–

–

–

–

Fermentation quality

pH

5.79a

4.16b

3.96b

3.86b

5.85a

4.06b

4.18b

3.94b

0.09

NS

***

NS

Lactic acid (% of FM)

0.28c

0.82b

0.90ab

1.02a

0.20c

0.86ab

0.79b

0.98a

0.04

NS

***

NS

Acetic acid (% of FM)

0.75a

0.52b

0.48b

0.54b

0.43a

0.30bc

0.27b

0.32c

0.02

***

***

*

Propionic acid (% of FM)

0.10

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND

NS

NS

NS

NS

Butyric acid (% of FM)

0.26

ND

ND

ND

0.05

ND

ND

ND

NS

NS

NS

NS

NH₃-N (g/kg of FM)

0.44

0.23

0.12

0.19

0.46

0.20

0.26

0.18

0.03

NS

***

*

Chemical composition

DM (%)

23.80

25.56

23.27

25.25

40.93a

39.93ab

32.92c

36.32bc

1.27

***

**

*

OM (% of DM)

88.66bc

90.24a

88.15c

89.52ab

89.67a

89.79a

88.66b

89.31ab

0.25

NS

***

*

CP (% of DM)

21.84

22.10

21.99

21.85

21.85

21.89

21.43

21.36

0.41

NS

NS

NS

EE (% of DM)

2.64

2.78

2.72

2.80

2.87

2.79

2.62

2.79

0.26

NS

NS

NS

NDF (% of DM)

30.05a

29.21b

27.71c

28.67c

31.84a

29.98b

27.97c

28.12c

0.78

NS

***

NS

ADF (% of DM)

24.45b

24.26b

23.58a

23.81b

26.49a

26.15a

24.29b

25.91b

0.55

NS

***

NS

ADL (% of DM)

2.12

2.19

2.39

2.40

2.35

2.51

2.90

2.64

0.17

*

NS

NS