Fig. 3

Bacterial alterations that contribute to functional shifts after fermentation in different groups. CK, Control (samples without inoculants); BA, samples inoculated with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens; BS, samples inoculated with Bacillus subtilis. Arabic number indicating days of ensiling. Summary of functional shifts predicted using Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt2). For each KEGG pathways, the second level of the predicted functional shift is shown with respect to the different groups and fermentation processes. A. Clustering heat map of functional abundance (top 25 abundant functions) of whole-plant corn silage. The color corresponding to the middle heat map represents the Z value obtained after the relative abundance of the function is normalized. The closer the color is to red, the higher the abundance. B. Level 2 KEGG orthologue functional predictions explained by PICRUSt2. C. Significant differences of the 5 functional pathways among the three groups with the same silage period at P < 0.05