Effect of Amylolytic and Cellulolytic Enzymes on Whole Plant Corn Silage: Characteristics of Silage and Animal Digestion

The aim of this study was to evaluate effects of adding exogenous enzymes to silage on fermentative losses and profile, aerobic stability, chemical composition, in vitro degradation, microbial quality, and nutrients intake and digestibility. Treatments were control (CON); addition of exo-1,4-α-glycosidase glucoamylase (GLU); addition of β-glucan 4-glucanhydrolase (CEL); and GLU + CEL. CEL increased (P≤0.038) gas losses and effluents production, CEL and GLU decreased (P=0.039) DM recovery compared to control but not differ from GLU + CEL. CEL silage had higher (P≤0.021) starch and crude protein and in vitro digestibility of dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (P≤0.032), while GLU had higher (P=0.001) acid detergent fiber (ADF). CEL showed lower (P=0.012) ethanol content and higher (P=0.02) anaerobic bacteria counts, while GLU showed higher (P=0.012) lactate concentration and lower (P≤0.002) counts of bacteria and fungi. Lambs fed with CEL presented higher (P≤0.012) digestibility coefficients for DM, organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and NDF. Decrease on DM recovery indicates no improvements on the nutritive value of silage. On the other hand, cellulolytic enzyme positively affected animal digestion.