TABLE 3.

Dry matter (DM, g/kg) and microbial counts (log₁₀ colony-forming units/g fresh weight) of whole-plant corn silage during the intense fermentation phase.

Items		CK	CSL	ESL	SEM	P value	Interaction
							T	A	T × A
DM	A	385	369ab	372b	5.1200	0.1141		***	*
	3 h	386	375a	379ab	6.1616	0.4881
	5 h	392A	359abB	377abA	4.8634	0.0035
	10 h	388A	348bB	380abA	3.3344	<0.0001
	24 h	391A	365abB	391aA	4.6015	0.0048
	2 days	379	374a	375ab	3.5375	0.5541
	3 days	382	371ab	379ab	4.6533	0.2643
	SEM	4.2870	5.8195	3.7257
	P value	0.3695	0.0420	0.0573
pH	A	6.14aA	6.03aAB	5.94bB	0.0340	0.0080	***	***	***
	3 h	5.95bB	5.94bB	6.02aA	0.0129	0.0036
	5 h	5.58c	5.63c	5.53c	0.0235	0.0550
	10 h	5.11dA	5.10dA	4.89dB	0.0463	0.0135
	24 h	4.63eA	4.53eB	4.58eAB	0.0178	0.0137
	2 d	4.25fA	4.04fC	4.14fB	0.0090	<0.0001
	3 d	4.01gA	3.83gB	3.86gB	0.0109	<0.0001
	SEM	0.0243	0.0275	0.0244
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001
Lactic acid bacteria	A	6.59d	6.68d	6.55d	0.1023	0.6735	***	***	***
	3 h	6.78dB	7.24cA	7.30cA	0.1039	0.0123
	5 h	8.35cB	8.76bA	9.00bA	0.0924	0.0024
	10 h	8.70bB	9.37aA	9.41aA	0.0530	<0.0001
	24 h	9.24aB	9.44aA	9.57aA	0.0488	0.0028
	2 days	9.26aB	9.41aA	9.44aA	0.0454	0.0448
	3 days	9.26a	9.52a	9.46a	0.0700	0.0597
	SEM	0.0744	0.0797	0.0780
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001
Yeast	A	6.90f	7.05d	6.90d	0.1098	0.5425	***	***	***
	3 h	6.84f	7.00d	6.78d	0.0920	0.2630
	5 h	7.17eB	7.77cA	7.38cB	0.0996	0.0065
	10 h	7.63dB	8.24bA	8.15bA	0.0734	0.0005
	24 h	8.10cC	8.27bB	8.42aA	0.0444	0.0022
	2 days	8.36bB	8.42bA	8.43aA	0.0120	0.0053
	3 days	8.62aC	8.78aA	8.68aB	0.0097	<0.0001
	SEM	0.0776	0.0659	0.0770
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001
Coliforms	A	7.22a	7.42a	7.53a	0.0751	0.0504	***
	3 h	7.54a	7.37a	7.64a	0.1017	0.2256
	5 h	7.39a	7.49a	7.61a	0.0775	0.1830
	10 h	7.71a	7.73a	7.87a	0.0628	0.1986
	24 h	7.65aA	7.42aB	7.69aA	0.0603	0.0223
	2 days	5.77bA	4.31bB	5.79bA	0.0954	<0.0001
	3 days	3.23c	3.37b	2.67c	0.7648	0.7929
	SEM	0.1781	0.4451	0.1935
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001
Bacteria	A	7.61f	8.28c	7.86e	0.2377	0.1853	***	***	***
	3 h	7.70ef	7.80d	7.84e	0.0526	0.2051
	5 h	7.88eB	8.70bcA	8.77dA	0.0614	<0.0001
	10 h	8.27dB	8.91abA	8.97cA	0.0285	<0.0001
	24 h	8.94c	9.14ab	9.21b	0.0920	0.1559
	2 days	9.19bB	9.40aA	9.47aA	0.0524	0.0112
	3 days	9.39a	9.45a	9.51a	0.0796	0.5857
	SEM	0.0639	0.1621	0.0673
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001

Values with different lowercase letters (a, b,… g) indicate significant differences among anaerobic state, 3 h, 5 h, 10 h, 24 h, 2 days, and 3 days after ensiling of each treatment. Values with different uppercase letters (A, B, and C) indicate significant differences among treatments on the same time during the intense fermentation phase. CK, whole-plant corn silage without any lactic acid bacterial suspensions; CSL, whole-plant corn silage treated with lactic acid bacterial suspensions prepared from whole-plant corn silage; ESL, whole-plant corn silage treated with lactic acid bacterial suspensions prepared from Elymus sibiricus silage. A, anaerobic state. SEM, standard error of means. *, P < 0.05; ***, P < 0.001.