Table 2.

Fermentation characteristics of four tropical forage silages during ensiling

Items		30 days		60 days		SEM	p-value
		28°C	40°C	28°C	40°C		D	T	D×T
King grass	pH	5.6a	5.2b	5.1b	4.8c	0.039	<0.001	<0.001	0.537
	LA	2.7c	5.4b	5.8b	7.1a	0.176	<0.001	<0.001	0.060
	AA	24.8b	25.6b	37.2a	38.5a	0.727	<0.001	0.508	0.866
	PA	1.0	1.3	1.3	1.1	0.096	0.779	0.685	0.192
	BA	2.2b	2.5b	2.9b	4.7a	0.128	<0.001	0.002	0.021
	NH3-N	10.1b	11.2b	15.5a	17.5a	0.391	<0.001	0.082	0.577
Paspalum	pH	5.2	5.2	5.2	5.1	0.034	0.145	0.755	0.361
	LA	1.1b	1.8ab	1.7ab	2.0a	0.103	0.059	0.039	0.438
	AA	13.5b	14.9b	21.6a	22.7a	0.739	<0.001	0.431	0.936
	PA	7.2d	9.2c	12.3b	16.5a	0.307	<0.001	0.001	0.113
	BA	1.4b	1.7ab	2.0a	2.0a	0.068	0.006	0.256	0.401
	NH3-N	3.9b	6.0ab	7.0a	7.0a	0.355	0.018	0.175	0.187
White popinac	pH	5.8a	5.6b	5.7ab	5.3c	0.027	0.003	<0.001	0.069
	LA	1.6b	2.3ab	1.9b	3.1a	0.142	0.107	0.009	0.418
	AA	0.3c	0.3c	0.9a	0.7b	0.016	<0.001	0.163	0.003
	PA	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.007	0.749	0.017	0.209
	BA	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.016	0.857	0.070	0.223
	NH3-N	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.054	0.881	0.777	0.444
Stylo	pH	5.4a	4.9c	5.2b	4.8d	0.019	<0.001	<0.001	0.709
	LA	1.9c	6.0a	4.0b	6.7a	0.121	<0.001	<0.001	0.028
	AA	7.8b	8.0b	10.5a	12.3a	0.279	<0.001	0.116	0.185
	PA	0.6ab	0.5b	0.7a	0.5b	0.015	0.314	0.008	0.788
	BA	1.6	1.4	1.5	1.6	0.029	0.401	0.398	0.061
	NH3-N	5.2	5.9	5.7	6.0	0.294	0.094	0.531	0.342

SEM, standard error of the mean; D, ensiling days; T, storage temperature; DM, dry matter; LA, lactic acid (g/kg DM); AA, acetic acid (g/kg DM); PA, propionic acid (g/kg DM); BA, butyric acid (g/kg DM); NH₃-N, NH₃-nitrogen (% total nitrogen).

^a–dMeans within columns with different superscript letters differ significantly from each other (p<0.05).