Fermentative profiles of field pea (Pisum sativum), faba bean (Vicia faba) and white lupin (Lupinus albus) silages as affected by wilting and inoculation

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the possibility of successful harvesting of field pea, faba bean, and white lupin by ensiling as whole-crop. Two effects were studied: wilting, directly ensiled (UW) or wilted (W), and inoculation, with (I) or without (UI) an inoculant (Lactobacillus plantarum). The herbages were chopped and ensiled in 2 l silos for 130 days, with three replicates for each treatment. Dry matter (DM) content, crude protein (CP), ash, and fibre components were determined on fresh herbage. The pH, DM content, ammonia nitrogen, ash, lactic, acetic and butyric acids were determined on silages. The chemical composition of the crops was unaffected by wilting and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) was always lower than 400 g/kg DM, with lower values in pea (302 g/kg DM) and faba bean (317 g/kg DM), due to the higher grain proportion of these two crops. Wilting affected pH and ammonia nitrogen in the pea and faba bean silages, whereas it only affected the amount of lactic acid in the lupin silage. The DM losses were affected by wilting in the pea and faba bean with lower values observed in the wilted silages, and they were greatly reduced by inoculum in all the silages. Butyric acid was detected in all the silages, except for the inoculated wilted pea and lupin silages. The data show that field pea, faba bean and lupin can be successfully ensiled after a wilting period under good weather conditions and with the addition of a lactic acid bacteria inoculant.