Six different cotton gin trash silages were studied which varied according to the rehydrating medium (water or whey) and the strain of L. plantarum, if any, used for inoculation. Silages were incubated at 34°C and analyzed at weeks 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 for counts of lactobacilli, total anaerobes, and sporeforming anaerobes. Biochemical measurements included pH, proximate analysis, volatile fatty acid analysis, and lactic acid analysis. Counts of lactobacilli and total anaerobes followed similar trends in all experimental silages with numbers greatly increasing by the end of week one and then subsequently declining. Counts of sporeforming anaerobes increased ten-fold by the end of the second week. Subsequent counts showed that the water-rehydrated silages maintained this increase whereas the whey silages decreased in numbers to their original magnitude. Whey-rehydrated silages had a significantly lower pH, higher dry matter content, a lower level of fiber, lignin, and cellulose, and a higher concentration of carbohydrate. These silages showed only traces of butyric acid and significantly higher concentrations of lactic acid. Thus the whey, as a rehydrating medium, produced silages of desirable pH and exhibited biochemical parameters indicative of good quality and feeding value. Of the three water-rehydrated silages, one was of obvious poor quality with the other two being questionable. No benefit was seen in using an inoculum of L. plantarum.

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