Effect of level of formic acid and urea on microbial evaluations of common reed Phragmitis communis silage

This study was conducted in a laboratory to investigate the effect of addition of different levels offormic acid and urea on microbial populations of common reed silage. Reed plants were cut into 2-3cm, treated at ensiling with 10% of debis and 3 levels of formic acid (FM), 0.5, 1 and 1.5% and urea(U), 0, 1 and 2%, packed in double nylon bags and kept for 60 days. Results showed that increasinglevel of FM from 0.5 to 1 and 1.5% decreased (P˂0.01) number of anaerobic by 0.83 and 1.94, lacticacid bacteria by 0.93 and 1.95, molds by 0.77 and 1.02 log10 cfu/g of wet silage respectively. Resultsalso showed that there was a decline in numbers of yeasts (P˂0.05) and molds (P˂0.01) with increasinglevel of addition of urea from 0 to 1 and 2%, numbers were 5.28, 4.87 and 4.46 for yeast and 6.27, 4.49and 3.25 log10 cfu/g of wet silage respectively. Numbers of aerobic, anaerobic and lactic acid bacteria,yeast and molds in samples of reed samples were also affected by interaction effect between level ofaddition of FM and urea.