THE INFLUENCE OF COMPRESSION LEVEL AND INOCULATION ONBIOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN LUCERNE SILAGES

The effect of different levels of compression (A1 = 420 gdm^-1, A2 =560 gdm^-1) and inoculation (B1 = no inoculant, B2 = with inoculant) on changes inchemical composition, proteolysis and quality of lucerne silage was investigated inthis paper. Based on the results of chemical analysis we found that in silages withmore compressed material there was a reduction in the amount of ammonianitrogen, soluble nitrogen and acetic acid, and increased content of protein nitrogen(‘true’protein) and production of lactic acid (p 0.05). With the inoculation of theensiling material the production of ammonia nitrogen and acetic acid was reducedbut the content of lactic acid and acidity was increased (p 0.05). The interaction ofboth investigated factors (A×B) induced a decrease in the proteolysis degree,increase of lactic acid production and decrease in acetic acid production, anddecrease in pH values (p 0.001) in investigated silages. The investigated factorshad less influence on the chemical composition of lucerne material, and thesignificant variations were observed in fat and NFE contents. On the basis of thisinvestigation the degree of compression is the most important parameter in ensilingtechnology. With the adequate compression and reduction of air in the startingmaterial, the aerobic phase is reduced and the activity of proeolytic enzymes isdecreased. In practice the special attention should be given to factors on whichdirectly or indirectly the level of compression of ensiled material depends: wilting,cutting, object selection and/or selection of machines used for compression.