Alfalfa silage harvest at the early flowering stage and submitted to wilt and action of biological additives

A 40 days alfalfa (Medicago sativa) regrowth was harvested in the summer at the early flowering stage with (26.3% DM, 18.94% CP, 8,90% DM soluble carbohydrates and 43.35 meq OH-/100 g DM buffering capacity). Part of the material was direct cut ensiled (26.3% DM) and part was wilted for 20 hours (44.12% DM). Both silages, either wilted or not, were assigned to four treatments: Control, Enzymes, Inoculate and Inoculate plus Enzymes and were ensiled in laboratory silos (3.6 L), with four replicates, per treatment, per a period 60 days. Wilting provived silages of better quality with lower pH, higher lactic acid/acetic acid ratio, lower N-NH3 and lower solubilization of the nitrogen fraction, with higher residual soluble carbohydrates content. The direct cut alfalfa silages additive action provided lower pH and N-NH3 in the treatments with Enzymes and Inoculate plus enzymes when compared to the treatment with Inoculate, however when compared to the treatment with Inoculate, but did not differ from Control. In both silages (direct cut and wilted), there was a decrease in the NDF contents in the Inoculates plus Enzymes treatment