. 2022 Dec 5;13:1070175. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1070175

Table 3.

Effect of lactobacillus on chemical composition and lactic acid bacteria populations of alfalfa silages after 60 days ensiling.

Item¹	Treatment²					SEM³	Significances
Item¹	C	LCO	LCA	LPL	LPE	SEM³	Significances
Dry matter (g/kg FW)	351^b	353^ab	349^b	346^b	363^a	1.04	*
Organic matter (g/kg DM)	893	894	894	892	897	0.60	ns
Carbohydrates fractions
Neutral detergent fiber (g/kg DM)	356	355	359	349	339	1.69	ns
Acid detergent fiber (g/kg DM)	292	283	282	277	270	1.81	ns
Acid detergent lignin (g/kg DM)	66.6^a	69.6^a	70.5^a	69.7^a	49.8^b	2.94	*
Water soluble carbohydrate (g/kg DM)	12.4	11.8	12.3	11.0	10.2	0.32	ns
Starch (g/kg DM)	7.49	6.93	7.36	7.59	7.63	0.24	ns
Xylose (g/kg DM)	5.12^ab	4.81^b	5.55^a	5.31^a	3.44^c	0.14	***
Protein fractions
Crude protein (g/kg DM)	219	223	218	224	224	1.03	ns
Non-protein nitrogen (%TN)	74.6	74.3	74.7	76.3	76.7	0.74	ns
Ammonia nitrogen (%NPN)	16.5^a	15.1^a	16.0^a	15.8^a	8.72^b	0.66	***
True protein nitrogen (%TN)	25.4	25.7	25.3	23.7	23.3	0.74	ns
Buffer soluble protein (%TPN)	6.65^b	7.43^b	9.26^ab	10.4^a	10.8^a	0.49	*
Neutral detergent soluble protein (%TPN)	56.2	56.8	55.5	53.2	53.6	1.07	ns
Acid detergent soluble protein (%TPN)	8.56^b	8.99^ab	7.49^b	10.3^ab	11.1^a	0.31	*
Acid detergent insoluble protein (%TPN)	28.5^a	26.8^ab	27.7^ab	26.1^ab	24.5^b	0.77	*
Lactic acid bacteria (log10 cfu/g FW)	7.42	7.40	7.46	7.57	7.63	0.16	ns

DM, dry matter; FW, fresh weight; NPN, non-protein nitrogen; TN, total nitrogen; TPN, true protein nitrogen.

C, control; LCO, Lactobacillus coryniformis; LCA, Lactobacillus casei; LPL, Lactobacillus plantarum; LPE, Lactobacillus pentosus.

SEM, standard error of means.

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. Means with different letters in the same row indicated a significant difference ns, not significant.