Screening of lactic acid bacteria suitable for silage-making in tropical regions

Lactic acid bacteria suitable for silage-making under tropical conditions were screened based on experiments on liquid culture and model system for silage fermentation (pouch method). We selected a lactic acid bacterium strain I-7 from many isolates from silage. The strain belonging to the genus Lactobacillus showed a good adaptability to silage making at 45-52 degrees C. Furthermore, the lactic acid productivity (LAP) of the strain was inhibited by the addition of lactic acid to the liquid medium. However, the degree of inhibition was lower than that of other strains and remained a level of approximately 80 and 40% of that of the initial LAP in the presence of 0.5 and 1.0% lactic acid, respectively.