Table 4.

Effects of different treatments on bacterial alpha-diversity indices in alfalfa-corn mixed silage during ensiling.

Indices	Fresh forage		Treatment (T)	Ensiling time (E)						SEM	p-value
	Alfalfa	Corn		Day 1	Day 3	Day 5	Day 7	Day 15	Day 30		T	E	T × E
Observed species	307.00	184.00	M1C1	167.67Aabc	176.67Aab	181.33Aa	148.67ABbc	145.00Ac	101.00 Bd	3.299	<0.001	<0.001	0.043
			M1C0	141.67AB	126B	153AB	160.00A	162.33A	143.33A
			M0C1	109.67Bab	105Bb	139Ba	131.33Bab	110.67Bab	44.33Cc
Shannon	4.68	3.71	M1C1	4.21Aa	4.20Aa	4.12a	3.64a	4.01a	2.90Bb	0.05	0.001	<0.001	<0.001
			M1C0	3.66B	3.47B	3.91	3.92	3.81	4.15A
			M0C1	3.76ABb	3.75Bb	4.34a	3.90b	3.35c	1.14Cd
Chao1	322.19	205.48	M1C1	202.22ab	211.35Aa	215.1Aa	168.6ABbc	159.74Bc	111.82ABd	4.263	<0.001	<0.001	0.043
			M1C0	183.76	148.48B	180.34AB	194.78A	188.34A	167.40A
			M0C1	126.86c	120.68Bc	165.15Ba	159.78Bab	139.30Cbc	51.50Cd
Good’s coverage	0.996	0.997	M1C1	0.995	0.995	0.995	0.996	0.997	0.998	<0.001	<0.001	0.003	0.034
			M1C0	0.995	0.997	0.996	0.995	0.996	0.996
			M0C1	0.997	0.998	0.997	0.996	0.996	0.999

M1C1, non-irradiated alfalfa (50%) and non-irradiated corn (50%); M1C0, non-irradiated alfalfa (50%) and irradiated corn (50%); M0C1, irradiated alfalfa (50%) and non-irradiated corn (50%); SEM, standard error of mean. ^A–CIndicate differences between values within the same column at p < 0.05; ^a–dIndicate differences between values within the same row at p < 0.05.