Effects of Bacterial Inoculation on the Fermentation and Aerobic Stability of Ensiled Avocado (Persea Americana) Pulp

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of bacterial inoculation on the fermentation characteristics and aerobic stability of avocado (Persea Americana) pulp silage. Avocado pulp (332±1.026 g dry matter, 119±1.282 g extracted ether, 5.68 ±0.481 pH and 20 ±1.531 MJ/kg DM gross energy) is a by-product of oil production. An amount of 80% avocado pulp was mixed with 15% grape pomace and 5% sugarcane molasses. The mixture was treated with: i) control (no additive), ii) emsilage (lactic acid bacterial inoculant) and iii) Sil-All (lactic acid bacterial inoculant). The treatments were ensiled in 1.5l jars and kept at room temperature for 90 days. After 90 days of ensiling, three jars per treatment were opened and sampled for fermentation characteristics. Further, the silage samples were subjected to an aerobic stability test (CO₂ production) that lasted for 7 days. The dry matter (DM) and the terminal pH were not affected by treatments. However, Sil-All treatment reduced (P<0.05) the water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content (17.7±1.35 g WSC/kg DM) while increasing (P<0.05) the lactic acid (47.8±2.48 g LA/kg DM) content of the silage compared to the other treatments. However, the aerobic stability of the silage was reduced (P<0.05) with Sil-All inoculation as indicated by higher CO₂ production (20.6±1.47 g CO₂/kg DM) compared to other treatments. It was concluded that good quality avocado pulp silage was produced with Sil inoculation, and work to test this silage on animal feeding experiments is needed.