<div>The effect of lactic acid bacteria inoculums on <em>in vitro</em> rumen fermentation, methane production, ruminal cellulolytic bacteria populations and cellulase activities of corn stover silage</div>

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculums on fermentation quality and <em>in vitro</em> digestibility of corn stover silage. Corn stover was ensiled without (control) or with <em>Lactobacillus plantarum</em> (LP), <em>Enterococcus faecalis</em> (EF), and <em>Enterococcus mundtii</em> (EM) for 45 days. The fermentation characteristics were assessed, and subsequent in vitro dry matter digestibility (DM-D), neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDF-D), volatile fatty acids (VFA), methane (CH<sub>4 </sub>) production, cellulolytic bacteria proportions and their activities per corn stover silage were also determined. There was no significant difference (<em>P</em>>0.05) among the silage pH, lactic acid, crude protein (CP), water soluble carbohydrates (WSC) and lignocelluloses contents of different treatments. The relative proportions of <em>Ruminococcus flavefaciens</em> and <em>Fibrobacter succinogenes</em>, carboxymethyl-ocellulose and β-glycosidase activities, DM-D, NDF-D, and VFA production of <em>in vitro</em> incubation was higher (<em>P</em><0.05) for silages inoculated with LP and EF than those of the control silage. Silage inoculated with LP showed the lowest (<em>P</em><0.05) CH<sub>4</sub> production per unit yield of VFA, which was positively corresponded to the lowest (<em>P</em><0.05) ratio of acetate to propionate. In summary, the ensiling fermentation quality and subsequent utilization of corn stover silage were efficiently improved by inoculated with <em>L. plantarum</em>.