The current study provides evidence thatwhen applied
at ensiling, L. buchneri 40788 can improve the aerobic
stability of barley silage when made in laboratory and
farm-scale silos. Barley ensiled in laboratory silos with
L. buchneri 40788 had lower concentrations of lactic acid
but increased concentrations of acetic acid and ethanol
when compared to untreated silage. In general, increasing
the application of L. buchneri 40788 above 1 × 105
cfu/g had few effects on these end products. In contrast,
and inexplicably, applying L. buchneri 40788 at rates of
at least 5 × 105 cfu/g of fresh forage were required to
elicit similar changes in corn silage (Ranjit and Kung,
2000). Our barley silage stored in the farm silo and
treated with 4 × 105 cfu/g of L. buchneri 40788 also had
a concentration of acetic acid that was greater (>40%)
than that found in untreated silage. The change in fermentation
end products that we observed in laboratory
and farm silos were consistent with the anaerobic degradation
pathway of lactic acid to acetic acid, ethanol, and
1,2 propanediol (not measured in our study) by L. buchneri
40788 proposed by Oude Elferink et al. (2001). Thus,
silage treated with L. buchneri 40788 often has a moderately
high concentration of ethanol despite having lower