TABLE 4.

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

Items		CK	CSL	ESL	SEM	P value	Interaction
							T	A	T × A
DM	3 days	382ab	371	379	4.6533	0.2643		**	**
	10 days	373b	379	381	3.4621	0.3005
	30 days	387a	378	380	2.8565	0.0992
	60 days	388aA	369B	389A	3.9423	0.0106
	SEM	3.3796	4.0575	3.8884
	P value	0.0354	0.2538	0.2715
pH	3 days	4.01aA	3.83bB	3.86aB	0.0107	<0.0001	***	***	***
	10 days	3.85b	3.82b	3.83a	0.0082	0.0550
	30 days	3.90bA	3.87aB	3.86aB	0.0067	0.0136
	60 days	3.65c	3.58c	3.58b	0.0206	0.0725
	SEM	0.0149	0.0103	0.0128
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001
Lactic acid bacteria	3 days	9.26a	9.52a	9.46a	0.0699	0.0597	***
	10 days	8.71b	8.99b	8.94b	0.1188	0.2561
	30 days	8.30c	8.17c	8.20c	0.0675	0.4381
	60 days	7.68d	7.64d	7.70d	0.0321	0.4029
	SEM	0.1040	0.0463	0.0741
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001
Yeast	3 days	8.62aC	8.78aA	8.68aB	0.0097	<0.0001	***
	10 days	8.33bB	8.37bB	8.47aA	0.0173	0.0007
	30 days	8.03c	7.95c	7.99b	0.1116	0.8877
	60 days	7.23d	7.21d	7.19c	0.0982	0.9544
	SEM	0.0601	0.0799	0.0829
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001
Coliforms	3 days	3.23a	3.37a	2.67a	0.7648	0.7929	***
	10 days	ND	ND	ND	–	–
	30 days	ND	ND	ND	–	–
	60 days	ND	ND	ND	–	–
	SEM	0.2101	0.5817	0.2369
	P value	<0.0001	0.0028	<0.0001
Bacteria	3 days	9.39a	9.45a	9.51a	0.0796	0.5857	***
	10 days	8.71b	8.85b	8.64b	0.1030	0.3807
	30 days	8.12c	8.14c	8.18c	0.0729	0.8331
	60 days	7.19d	6.91d	7.25d	0.1089	0.1248
	SEM	0.0969	0.0876	0.0923
	P value	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001

Values with different lowercase letters (a, b, c, and d) indicate significant differences among 3, 10, 30, and 60 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 stable phase. ND, no detected. 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. SEM, standard error of means. **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001.