Effect of the inoculation of sugarcane silage with Lactobacillus hilgardii and Lactobacillus buchneri on feeding behavior and milk yield of dairy cows

Despite its low NDF digestibility, sugarcane is an option for feeding dairy cattle in tropical regions. We evaluated the effect of sugarcane silages inoculated with Lactobacillus hilgardii CCMA 0170 (LH; an epiphytic bacteria isolated from sugarcane) or with L. buchneri NCIMB 40788 (LB; a commercial strain isolated from temperate grasses) on dairy cow performance and feeding behavior. The microbial inoculums were previously grown in the laboratory to obtain 5 log cfu/g of fresh forage. Nine tons of each inoculated silage and a noninoculated control silage (CON) were harvested from the same field and stored for at least 35 d in experimental 20 x 2.1 x 0.4 m bunker silos. Fifteen Holstein cows in late lactation (336 +/- 175 days in milk at the start of the experiment) received the treatments in five 3 x 3 Latin squares with 21-d periods. The diets contained 20% of DM of sugarcane silage and 41% of DM of corn silage. Milk yield was increased from 18.0 kg/d for CON to18.8 kg/d for LH, but LB did not elicit a detectable increase in milk yield (18.1 kg/d). The daily yields of fat, protein, lactose, and total solids were increased by LH. Daily DMI and total tract apparent digestibility of nutrients did not differ among treatments. Both inoculated silages reduced acetate and increased butyrate proportions in ruminal VFA, but only LH silage reduced the acetate to propionate ratio (3.0 vs. 3.3). First meal duration was shorter for CON compared to LH and LB. The proportion of daily intake between 0700 and 1300 h tended to be increased, and the proportion between 1900 and 0700 h was reduced by LH. The inoculation of sugarcane silage with Lactobacillus hilgardii affected rumen fermentation profile and feeding behavior of late lactation dairy cows, increasing the yield of milk solids.