Spansk skogssnigel (Arion lusitanicus) i ensilerat vallfoder : betydelse för fodrets näringsinnehåll och hygieniska kvalitet

Abstract: This work is about silage contaminated with slugs (Arion lusitanicus). The hypothesis was: Do slugs affect the nutritional value and hygiene quality of silage? During the winter season 2007/2008 silages were discarded in big amounts due to the contamination of slugs. Both the Swedish Farmer Association (LRF) and the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) received phone calls from farmers and animal owners about contaminated silage. The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and SVA decided to initiate this project as a master thesis. The experiment was performed in Uppsala at SLU Kungsängen research centre and at SVA. The slugs were collected from an affected area in Horred in the southwest parts of Sweden and brought together with unaffected grass wilted to two different dry matters (DM), 35 % and 65 %. The lower DM was also treated with an additive. Three different levels of slugs were mixed up in each DM level and completed with a control group. Each treatment was made in triple. Total numbers of silage samples were 36. The results pointed out that the slugs contained lactic acid bacteria and content of lactic acid were higher in silage containing slugs compared to controls (no slugs). Eneterobacteria, spores of Clostricium tyrobutyricum or moulds did not increase in silages with slugs added. The yeast count tended to increase at the highest addition of slugs. The general conclusion is that the addition of slugs to grass did not deteriorate the silage quality in this study.