5. Final considerations

addition of corn meal. Furthermore, additive increased the amount of lactic acid and acetic acid and reduced the content of ammonia nitrogen, butyric acid, and propionic acid. The additive corn meal positively changed the fermentation process of silage perennial peanut.

Table 5. Values of pH, relation ammoniacal nitrogen/total nitrogen (NH3/TN), lactic acid (LA), acetic acid (AA), butiric

TRAT pH NH3/TN LA AA BA PA Perennial peanut (PP) 5.48a 18.22a 0.67h 0.09c 1.21a 1.61a PP + 5% corn meal 4.76c 11.70ab 0.64h 0.17c 0.65b 0.86b PP + 10% corn meal 4.57c 8.06bcd 2.29e 1.74ab 0.20de 0.86b PP Wilted (PPW) 4.70c 4.15cd 1.10f 0.60bc 0.04e 0.03b PP + Inoculant 5.18b 14.04ab 0.21i 3.25a 0.34cd 0.39b PPW + Inoculant 4.67c 3.93cd 0.86g 1.15bc 0.03e 0.02b

Other techniques such as wilting reduce losses in silage legumes. The wilting reduces the formation of organic ions that can result in the buffering effect on the silage fermentation process [54]. In Table 5, we confirmed the effect of wilting on silage perennial peanuts. Wilting reduced the pH, ammonia nitrogen content, butyric acid, and propionic acid, and increased the amounts of lactic and acetic acid. These changes are desirable, since lactic acid has preser-

The biological additives can be used in leguminous silage. Table 5 shows the results of the addition of inoculant in perennial peanuts silage, when the wilting before ensiling occurred. This can be explained by the fact that due to the lower moisture content in the forage activity of lactic acid bacteria is increases and reduced the activity of other bacteria, such as clostridia,

The cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica and Nopalea cochenillifera Salm Dyck) has been increasing in the face of constant climate changes in the current production scenario [55] and its use in the objective Brazilian semiarid minimize the action of seasonality in the production process,

In order to rationalize the use of this forage resource, the cactus pear as a silage is an alternative to this region. From the productive point, and the conservation of the nutritional value of the forage, the cactus pear silage maximizes the use of natural resources found in the Brazilian semiarid, enabling ranchers a new alternative for conservation of foods rich in water and energy, which adds more value to this Cactaceae in arid and

providing energy and increasing the availability of water via food for animals.

vative effect on the fermentation of silage to acidify [13].

Note: Means followed by the same letter in the column do not differ by 5% Tukey test.

which are sensitive to osmotic pressure.

Source: Adapted from Paulino et al. (2009).

78 Advances in Silage Production and Utilization

acid (BA), and propionic acid (PA) of perennial peanut silage.

4.5. Cactus pear

semiarid regions.

The use of plant to appropriate silage in combination with cultivate, harvesting, and silo filling results in a successful preservation of forage as silage.

Tropical crops, due to the tolerance of low water availability, are ideal for preserving forage as silage. In semiarid regions, the fermentative process of forages varies with conditions, and sometimes it requires additives.

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