Improving the nutrition of livestock is an important aspect of global food production sustainability. This study verified whether lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculant could promote ensiling characteristics, nutritive value, and in vitro enteric methane (CH4) mitigation of forage sorghum (FS) mixture silage in attacking malnutrition in Zebu beef cattle. The FS at the soft dough stage, Cavalcade hay (CH), and cassava chip (CC) were obtained. The treatments were designed as a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. Factor A was FS prepared without or with CH, CC, and CH + CC. Factor B was untreated or treated with Lactobacillus casei TH14. The results showed that all FS mixture silages preserved well with lower pH values below 4.0 and higher lactic acid contents above 56.4 g/kg dry matter (DM). Adding LAB boosted the lactic acid content of silages. After 24 h and 48 h of in vitro rumen incubation, the CC-treated silage increased in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) with increased total gas production and CH4 production. The LAB-treated silage increased IVDMD but decreased CH4 production. Thus, the addition of L. casei TH14 inoculant could improve lactic acid fermentation, in vitro digestibility, and CH4 mitigation in the FS mixture silages.

Improving the productive performance of agricultural residue silage has practical relevance to sustaining livestock production. Sweet corn stover (SCS) and cassava pulp (CSVP) are widespread in the tropics as low-cost feed resources. To efficiently prepare SCS and CSVP silage, the impact of adding Acremonium cellulase (AC), Lactobacillus casei strain TH14 inoculant (TH14), and their combination (AC+TH14) on ensiling characteristics, microbial population, chemical compositions, and in vitro digestibility were tested in comparison to control (no additive). After 60 d of ensiling, the pH value and ammonia nitrogen content of silage were lower (p < 0.05) when AC was used as the additive. Compared with other treatments, TH14 provided abundant lactic acid fermentation in silage. All tested additives increased the crude protein (CP) content and decreased the neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content of SCS silage. In CSVP silage, only AC and AC+TH14 altered the CP and NDF content. In addition, AC and AC+TH14 provided greater in vitro dry matter digestibility and a lower in vitro fiber digestibility. Overall, optimized either AC or TH14 can be recommended as an attractive additive to improve the ensiling characteristics of SCS and CSVP silage. AC significantly modifies the in vitro digestibility of silage.

Cyanide is a strong toxin in many tropical forage plants that can negatively affect ruminants. The aim of this study is to determine the cyanide removal efficiency, silage quality, and in vitro rumen fermentation of fresh cassava roots ensiled without an additive (control) and with Acremonium cellulase (AC), two cyanide-utilizing bacterial inoculants (Enterococcus feacium KKU-BF7 (BF7) and E. gallinarum KKU-BC10 (BC10)), and their combinations (BF7 + BC10, AC + BF7, AC + BC10 and AC + BF7 + BC10). A completely randomized design was used with eight treatments × four small-scale silo replicates. Additionally, extra silage samples (seven silos/treatment for individually opening after 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 15, and 30 days of ensiling) were added to observe the changes in the total cyanide concentration and pH value. The fresh cassava root contained an optimal number of lactic acid bacteria (105 colony forming units/g fresh matter), and the contents of dry matter (DM) and total cyanides were 30.1% and 1304 mg/kg DM, respectively. After 30 days of ensiling, all silages demonstrated a low pH (<3.95; p < 0.01). Cyanide content ranged from 638 to 790 mg/kg DM and was highest in the control (p < 0.01). The addition of BF7 + BC10 increased the crude protein (CP) content (p < 0.01). The addition of AC decreased the fibrous contents (p < 0.01). The control had less acetic acid and propionic acid contents (p < 0.01) and a greater butyric acid content (p < 0.01). However, the degrees of in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) and gas production were similar among treatments. Methane production ranged between 29.2 and 33.3 L/kg IVDMD (p < 0.05), which were observed in the AC + BC10 and BF7 + BC10 treatments, respectively. Overall, our results suggested that the cyanide removal efficiency after 30 days of ensiling with good-quality cassava-root silage was approximately 39% of the initial value. The enterococci inoculants and/or AC could improve the ensiling process and cyanide removal efficiency (increasing it to between 47 and 51% of the initial value). The novel enterococci inoculants (BF7 + BC10) were associated with a decreased cyanide content and an increased CP content. They appeared to promote the methanogenesis potential of the cassava root silage. More research is required to validate the use of cyanide-utilizing bacterial inoculants in cyanogenetic plants, bioenergy fermentation, and livestock.

Understanding the nutritive values of fruit peel residues could expand our feed atlas in sustaining livestock production systems. This study aimed to investigate the effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), cellulase enzyme, molasses, and their combinations on the fermentation quality and in vitro digestibility of coconut peel (CCP), sugar palm peel (SPP), and durian peel (DRP) silage. The CCP, SPP, and DRP were ensiled in a small-scale silo without additive (control), and with LAB strain TH14 (TH14), molasses, or Acremonium cellulase (AC) using a small-scale silage preparation technique according to a completely randomized design. All fresh peels had sufficient factors for ensiling such as moisture content (78–83%), water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC, 4.20–4.61% dry matter (DM)), and epiphytic LAB population (104–105 colony-forming units (cfu)/g fresh matter (FM)). However, aerobic bacteria counts were high (107–109 cfu/g FM). The fiber content of these fruit peels was high, with lignin abundances ranging from 9.1–21.8% DM and crude protein was low (2.7–5.4% DM). After ensiling, the pH values of the silage were optimal (≤4.25) and lower (p < 0.01) for SPP silage. The addition of molasses+TH14, molasses+AC, and molasses+TH14+AC has the potential to enhance fermentation characteristics and improve chemical composition. Silages treated with molasses alone improved the in vitro digestibility of tropical fruit peels. The residue of tropical fruits has the potential to be used as an alternative feed source for ruminants. Adding molasses, TH14, and AC during silage preparation could improve its nutritive value and digestibility.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.