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Pretreatment of Coastal Bermudagrass with Sodium Hydroxide and Cellulase Before Ensiling

Russell Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Athens, GA 30613

ABSTRACT

When a cellulase produced by Trichoderma viride was added to Coastal bermudagrass before ensiling to increase digestibility, the content of the residual water-soluble carbohydrate was increased significantly above controls or NaOH-treated silage. Significant increases of acetic and lactic acids were obtained by pretreatment with NaOH followed by neutralization before ensiling and also by NaOH plus cellulase treatment (both neutralized and not neutralized) before ensiling. Treatment of Coastal bermudagrass with NaOH, which was not neutralized before ensiling, produced poor silage with high pH and butyric acid content. Digestibility was significantly increased by either NaOH treatment with or without cellulase. In addition, acetic acid produced during in vitro digestibility studies was significantly higher after 48-h incubation for all treatments compared with controls. Coastal bermudagrass silage made with all treatments except NaOH that was not neutralized showed significantly higher propionic acid content at the end of 48-h fermentation than controls. Laboratory studies suggest that treatment with NaOH and cellulase improves silage.