0 (Table 1). The four strains had a wider range of viable temperature and pH conditions than L. plantarum chikuso-1, which can grow at 15–45 °C and at pH 3.5–6.0 (Cai et al., 2003), or L. plantarum NGRI0320, which

can grow at 15 °C but not 45 °C (Tanaka et al., 2000). Therefore, these four strains may be useful for developing an advanced L. plantarum subsp. plantarum-containing inoculant. In rice grains, glucose, maltose, maltotriose, sucrose, raffinose, stachyose, fructose, xylose, raffinose, and arabinose are detectable (Murata et al., 1966; Singh & Juliano, 1977). In hydrolysates of rice straw, glucose, xylose, fructose, and arabinose are major monosaccharides, Ku-0059436 research buy whereas small amounts of fucose, mannose, galactose, and rhamnose also are present (Sugahara et al., 1992; Sulbaran-de-Ferrer et al., 2003). In the analysis of their carbohydrate utilization, the tested strains had unique fermentation patterns compared with the type strains of the L. plantarum group (Table 2). In addition, differences in carbohydrate fermentation patterns were found among the L. plantarum subsp. plantarum strains ABT-263 in spite of the high similarity of their genetic backgrounds. For example, strains TO1000 and

TO1001 showed positive reactions for utilization of l-arabinose, whereas TO 1002 and TO 1003 were negative. TO1001 had no ability to use l-rhamnose. Only TO1000 was able to assimilate starch, which is a major constituent of rice grains (Baun et al., 1970;

Perdon et al., 1975; Perez et al., 1975). The potential to utilize carbohydrates might be an important factor in effectiveness of LAB inoculants on silage fermentation quality. Next, Loperamide we evaluated the four strains as additives for whole crop paddy rice silage. The DM of paddy rice materials used was 43.0%. The pH value of homogenates of the materials was 6.24. Organic acids such as lactic acid, propionic acid, and n-butyric acid were not present at detectable levels. The VBN content was 0.02 g kg−1 FM. Before ensiling, the microbiological composition was LAB (6.66 log CFU g−1 FM), coliform bacteria (6.62), yeasts (8.26), aerobic bacteria (8.28), clostridia (3.00), bacilli (3.18), and molds (4.70). As shown in Table 3, all strains increased fermentation rates in whole crop paddy rice silage, resulting in a significant pH decrease after 30 days of storage. Even within the same subspecies, a significant difference in pH after fermentation was observed between TO1000 and TO1002. Likewise, differences in the content of organic acids and VBN were also found among the treatments (Table 3). For example, the lactic acid content in LAB-treated samples was significantly higher than in the untreated samples, and strain TO1000 had the highest concentration.