Ensilage is considered that widespread among conserving method of fodder crops.
The successes of this process depend on bacteria in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) group as existing
in forage crops. The chemical composition and diversity of lactic acid bacteria in silages based
on guinea grass was investigated. Result showed that the silages contained 62.55 to 76.47%
moisture, 23.53 to 37.45% dry matter (DM) and 6.11 to 15.74% ash. Groundnut silage (T3)
showed the lowest crude fiber (CF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber
(ADF) contents. Two hundred and eighty-two isolates of LAB were isolated from five silage
formula based on guinea grass supplementation with either lead tree leaves or groundnut. Most
of isolates were gram-positive and catalase-negative bacteria. Based on morphological
characteristics and PCR-RAPD analysis, the isolates were divided into 21 groups (Guinea Grass
Mixed Legume Silage (GMLS) 1 to GMLS21). The phylogenetic relation of the representative
strains was analyzed from the data of 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing. Prevalent of LAB found
in the silages included Lactobacillus plantarum, Pediococcus acidilactici, Pediococcus
pentosaceus, Enterococcus hirae, and Weissella paramesenteroides. L. plantarum was a
dominant population and found distribution in all silage formula. This study revealed that the
silage samples, including guinea grass, lead tree and groundnut contain mainly of L. plantarum.
The information obtained can be used for the anterior design of reasonable inoculants for
improvement of silage quality for cattle feed.