Effects of mixing Neolamarckia cadamba leaves on fermentation quality, microbial community of high moisture alfalfa and stylo silage

Abstract

Summary Neolamarckia cadamba is not only a fodder of high nutritional value, but also a source of natural antimicrobial agent. The silage quality of high moisture alfalfa and stylo with or without N. cadamba leaves (NCL) was investigated, and microbial community after ensiling was analysed. Results showed that the silage samples with NCL have lower pH (4.32 versus 4.88, 4.26 versus 4.71 in alfalfa and stylo silage, respectively), ammonia‐N content (67.5 versus 146, 42.2 versus 95.1 g kg−1 total N) and higher lactic acid (13.3 versus 10.4, 17.3 versus 13.6 g kg−1 dry matter), true protein N (592 versus 287, 815 versus 589 g kg−1 total N). The addition of NCL also influenced the bacterial community distribution. The relative abundance of Clostridium and Enterobacter decreased, whereas Lactobacillus abundance increased when NCL was added. In conclusion, NCL could inhibit undesirable microorganisms in high moisture alfalfa and stylo silage. Mixing with NCL could be a feasible way to improve the quality of silage.

Effect on the ensilage performance and microbial community of adding Neolamarckia cadamba leaves to corn stalks

“…Similar results had been reported by Wang et al . (2019a), who found the significant reduction of acetic acid content in NCL‐treated silages. This could be attributed to the inhibition of NCL by restriction the growth of some acetic acid bacteria and coliform (Muck, 2010).…”

“…Besides, the DM, NDF and ADF contents of NCL were comparable with the data reported by Zhang et al . (2019) but relatively higher than our previous report (Wang et al ., 2019a). However, the DM contents of these two fresh materials except CS in trial 2 were higher than 25%, a minimum DM content for forage to minimize the risk of effluent (Mcdonald et al ., 1991).…”

“…Although the LAB population in fresh NCL was relatively low and the populations of undesirable microorganisms were relatively high, it will not affect the normal fermentation. Our previous study confirmed that NCL could inhibit undesirable microorganisms such as Clostridium and Enterobacter and improve the quality of high moisture alfalfa and stylo (Wang et al ., 2019a). He et al .…”

“…Wang et al . (2019a) also noted that bacterial community distribution could be influenced by enhanced hydrolysable and condensed tannins in NCL mixed silages.…”

Fermentation profile and nutritional quality of silages composed of cactus pear and maniçoba for goat feeding

“…According to McDonald et al (1991), the high moisture content and low levels of soluble carbohydrates influence the fermentation process avoiding the rapid decline of pH and consequently favouring the appearance of unwanted secondary fermentation, which dilute the organic acids, main products of the fermentation by heterofermentative bacteria, negatively influencing the drop of pH of the medium (Borreani et al, 2018). Moreover, this high water activity provides the development of bacteria of the genus Clostridium, responsible for reducing the nutritional value, which causes the production of poor quality silage, even resulting in losses of nutrients, due to the effluent produced in large amount (Silva et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2019).…”