Exploring the Addition of Herbal Residues on Fermentation Quality, Bacterial Communities, and Ruminal Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Paper Mulberry Silage

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the influence of herbal residues on the fermentation quality and ruminal fermentation of paper mulberry silage. Clove, mint, and purple perilla residues were used as additives. Silage treatments were designed as control (no additives), 5% of clove, 5% of mint, and 5% of purple perilla. After 21 and 75 days of fermentation, the fermentation characteristics, bacterial communities, and ruminal greenhouse gas emissions in vitro incubation of paper mulberry were analyzed. The results showed that the used herbal residues could reduce the protein losses in paper mulberry silage based on the lower contents of ammoniacal nitrogen and nonprotein nitrogen. Compared with control, higher lactic acid and propionic acid contents were observed in the silages treated with mint and purple perilla but with a higher acetic acid content in clove treatment. Real-time sequencing technology (single-molecule real-time) revealed that Lactobacillus was the dominant bacteria in all silages at the genus level, whereas the bacterial abundance in the treated silages differed greatly from control at the species level. Lactobacillus hammesii abundance was the highest in control, whereas Lactobacillus acetotolerans was the first predominant in the treated silages. All the additives enhanced the digestibility of in vitro dry matter significantly. However, purple perilla decreased the production of total gas, methane, and carbon dioxide. The findings discussed earlier suggested that herbal residues have potential effects in improving fermentation quality, reducing protein loss, and modulating greenhouse gas emissions in the rumen of paper mulberry silage by shifting bacterial community composition.

Effect of storage time on the silage quality and microbial community of mixed maize and faba bean in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

“…The pH value is a key indicator to estimate the success of fermentation, and that is also always considered as a pivotal index to reflect microbial activity during ensiling ( Kung et al, 2018 ; Li et al, 2022c ). In the study, the pH value was below 4.2 at all stages of ensiling.…”

Perilla frutescens as potential antimicrobial modifier to against forage oat silage spoilage

“…In recent years, phenolic and flavonoid compounds have been reported to have inhibitory activity against undesirable microorganisms such as Enterobacter , Clostridium , fungi such as Candida , Aspergillus , and so on ( Zacchino et al, 2017 ; Chan et al, 2018 ). Furthermore, medicinal plants or its secondary metabolites have been used as ideal, safe and novel additives for improving food security and animal production due to their highly inhibitory effects on bacteria and fungi ( Kang et al, 2019 ; Falleh et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2021b ). However, little is known about the use of herbs and plants high in bioactive substances in the ensiling of forage oat.…”

Effects of cellulase and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum on the fermentation quality, microbial diversity, gene function prediction, and in vitro rumen fermentation parameters of Caragana korshinskii silage

“…Gas production amount is related to feed nutritional value, rumen microbial activity, and feed utilization. In the present study, the cumulative total gas production in the CL group increased significantly in the first 48 h compared with that in the CK group, probably because of the high quality of C. korshinskii silage in the CL group, in which WSC content was positively, and NDF content was negatively correlated with gas production (Li et al, 2022b). However, no significant difference was observed in gas production among the groups within 72 h, which may be because of the difference in the DM degradation of C. korshinskii silage treated with different additives by rumen microorganisms, which was similar to the results of Xiong et al (2022).…”