Effects of cutting stage and bacterial inoculant on quality of the red clover silage

In this paper, the influence of cut at two maturity stages (the beginning of the flowering stage and mid bloom stage and bacterial inoculant "Silko za lucerku" (contains Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus spp.) on the quality of red clover silage were presented. The commercial cultivar Nada selected at the Bc Institute in Zagreb was used for investigation. The silage was examined in mini-silos (glass jars of 1.5 l volume with plastic fermentation valve) in the laboratory. The chemical composition, energy and fermentation characteristics of silages were analyzed 90 days after ensiling. The values of dry matter, acid (ADF) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF), lactic acid and pH were significantly lower, while the crude protein content, total digestible nutrients (TDN), relative feed value (RFV), ammonia nitrogen in total nitrogen (NH3-N/TN), acetic and butyric acids were significantly higher in the first cutting stage. The inoculation with inoculant "Silko za lucerku" improved the chemical, energy and fermentation parameters of silages. Inoculant-treated silage had lower contents of ADF, NDF, NH3-N/TN, acetic and butyric acids and pH, and higher contents of dry matter, crude protein, TDN, RFV and lactic acid than control. Accordingly, timely cutting stage and application of microbial inoculant can contribute to a lesser loss of nutritional value of the forage and promote silage quality.