Indicators of aerobic stability in silages of the mixture Tithonia.diversifolia/Pennisetum purpureum enriched with Lactobacillus Indicadores de estabilidad aeróbica en ensilajes de la mezcla Tithonia diversifolia/Pennisetum purpureum enriquecidos con Lactobacillus

Abstract

In times of scarcity, farmers resort to preserving food through anaerobic fermentation processes, known as silage. Once the silo is opened, the substrate is aerobically stable if it retains its nutritional integrity when opening. This is the result of an acidic environment that restricts the deleterious effects of the action of pathogenic microorganisms, expressed as indicators of stability to aerobic exposure. One of the empirical problems faced by the producer is to solve the question of how to avoid deterioration of the silage once it is opened, for which this research points to the resistance in the period of aerobic exposure (PEA) of a silage of Pennisetum purpureum (PP) with different levels of substitution of Tithonia diversifolia (TD). The study was conducted at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia. With a 90-day fermentation silage, a seven-day aerobic stability test was carried out, using a kilogram silage at different proportions (%) of TD/PP: 100/0, 67/33, 33/67 and 0/100 enriched with two Lactobacillus-based additives. The change in dry matter, temperature and pH was measured, finding stability to aerobic exposure. The role of TD is remarkable once the silage enters the PEA due to the buffer capacity that buffers the change in pH once the silo is opened, generating greater aerobic stability.