Replacing Alfalfa with Paper Mulberry in Total Mixed Ration Silages: Effects on Ensiling Characteristics, Protein Degradation, and In Vitro Digestibility

Abstract

To develop an alternative high-protein forage resource to alleviate ruminant feed shortages, we investigated the effects of replacing alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) with different ratios of paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera L., RY) on fermentation quality, protein degradation, and in vitro digestibility of total mixed ration (TMR) silage. The TMR were made with alfalfa and RY mixtures (36.0%), maize meal (35.0%), oat grass (10.0%), soybean meal (7.5%), brewers’ grain (5.0%), wheat bran (5.0%), premix (1.0%), and salt (0.5%) on a dry matter basis, respectively. The alfalfa and RY mixtures were made in the following ratios of dry matter: 36:0 (RY0), 27:9 (RY9), 18:18 (RY18), 9:27 (RY27), and 0:36 (RY36). After ensiling for 7, 14, 28, and 56 days, fermentation quality, protein degradation, and microbial counts were examined, and chemical composition and in vitro digestibility were analyzed after 56 days of ensiling. All TMR silages, irrespective of the substitution level of RY, were well preserved with low pH and ammonia nitrogen content, high lactic acid content, and undetectable butyric acid. After ensiling, the condensed tannin content for RY18 silages was higher than the control, but non-protein nitrogen, peptide nitrogen, and free amino acid nitrogen contents was lower, while the fraction B1 (buffer-soluble protein) was not different among all the silages. Dry matter and crude protein digestibility for RY27 and RY36 silages was lower than the control, but there was no difference between control and RY18 silages. This study suggested that ensiling RY with alfalfa inhibited true protein degradation, but decreased in vitro dry matter and crude protein digestibility of TMR silages, and that 18:18 is the optimal ratio.

Effects of Paper Mulberry Silage on the Growth Performance, Rumen Microbiota and Muscle Fatty Acid Composition in Hu Lambs

“…It was found that PMS would lead to a lower TVFA in rumen before slaughter. This may be due to the high digestibility of PMS, which can pass through rumen faster [11]. In all treatments, the rumen TVFA content decreased after 12 h of fasting.…”

“…Evidence supports the effect of tannin's regulation of rumen lipid metabolism on meat polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) [8]. Based on this, paper mulberry may have the potential to reduce rumen BH and improve meat quality because of the high concentration of condensed tannin [11]. It seems that the reasons for these different observations are not clear yet, and the underlying lipids metabolism mechanism of rumen needs to be clarified in the future study.…”

“…Paper mulberry contains higher condensed tannin [11], which may positively affect the meat quality of livestock products by altering the rumen's fermentation mode [8,12,13] and the biohydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids. Moreover, paper mulberry can improve the milk quality of dairy cattle and the meat quality of sheep [14,15], change the rumen microorganism [16], and increase the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in milk [17,18].…”

Microbial Community, Co-Occurrence Network Relationship and Fermentation Lignocellulose Characteristics of Broussonetia papyrifera Ensiled with Wheat Bran

“…These results were consistent with the research data of Dong et al [ 9 ]. It was found that different mixing proportion of silage materials would significantly affect the fermentation lignocellulose characteristics, especially for the content of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent lignin [ 35 ]. This study found that compared with other mixing ratios, there were greater degradation rates of hemicellulose (27.27%) and neutral detergent fiber (19.06%) in BP65.…”

Hybrid Broussonetia papyrifera Fermented Feed Can Play a Role Through Flavonoid Extracts to Increase Milk Production and Milk Fatty Acid Synthesis in Dairy Goats

“…Hybrid Broussonetia papyrifera has the advantages of strong stress resistance and high resistance to diseases and insect pests. The leaves of hybrid B. papyrifera have a high protein content of which exceeds 20% and can be used directly as livestock feeds or as a raw material for a total mixed ration (TMR) ( 21 ). Now, by making hybrid B. papyrifera fermented feed, it can not only preserve a large amount of vitamins, but also make it taste sour, sweet and mellow ( 22 ).…”