Adding sweet potato vines improve the quality of rice straw silage

Abstract

Rice straw and sweet potato vines are the main by-products of agricultural crops, and their disposal creates problems for the environment in the south of China. In order to establish an easy method for making rice straw silage successfully, experiments were conduct to evaluate fermentation quality and nutritive value of rice straw silages ensiled with or without sweet potato vine. Paddy rice straw (PR) and upland rice straw (UP) were ensiled alone or with sweet potato vines (SP) by a ratio of 1:1 (fresh matter basis), over 3 years. Compared with rice straw silages ensiled alone, the mixed-material silages (PR + SP, UR + SP) showed higher fermentation quality with lower propionic acid content and NH -N ratio of total N, and higher (P < 0.05) concentrations of lactic acid and acetic acid, resulting in decrease (P < 0.05) of dry matter loss and higher (P < 0.05) in vitro ruminal dry matter digestion. When the fermentation quality, chemical composition and in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics were considered, ensiling would be an effective way of utilization of rice straw and sweet potato vines in the regions where rice and sweet potato are harvested at same season, and the sweet potato vines have the potential to improve rice straw fermentation quality with low water soluble carbohydrate content in south of China.

Effect of microbial inoculants on fermentation quality and aerobic stability of sweet potato vine silage

“…Sweet potato is one of the most important food crops, which is cultivated widely in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, particularly in Asia (78%) and Africa (18%). Sweet potato vine (SPV) consisting leaf, stem, and stalk is the by-product of its root, and considered as a good feedstuff for ruminants due to the high concentrations of crude protein (CP) and water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) [ 1 , 2 ]. The SPV contains approximately 12.3% dry matter (DM), 13.5% CP, 50.6% neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 33.9% acid detergent fiber (ADF) [ 1 ], and 46.8% WSC [ 2 ].…”

“…Sweet potato vine (SPV) consisting leaf, stem, and stalk is the by-product of its root, and considered as a good feedstuff for ruminants due to the high concentrations of crude protein (CP) and water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) [ 1 , 2 ]. The SPV contains approximately 12.3% dry matter (DM), 13.5% CP, 50.6% neutral detergent fiber (NDF), 33.9% acid detergent fiber (ADF) [ 1 ], and 46.8% WSC [ 2 ]. Based on these nutritive values, SPV provides a nutritional requirement that acceptable for growth in heifers [ 1 ].…”

Including ramie (Boehmeria nivea L. Gaud) in the diet of dairy cows: effects on production performance, milk composition, rumen fermentation, and nutrient digestion

“…Rice is the major crop cultivated in southern China, with billions of tons of rice coproducts produced each year, especially straw. However, a large majority of this straw is left unused or burned after harvest due to its low economic value, leading to serious environmental problems (Li et al 2017). High temperatures and humidity are not suitable for alfalfa growing and some other forage drying, which poses a major issue with its use as an agricultural feed in southern China.…”

Effects of sugar sources and doses on fermentation dynamics, carbohydrates changes, in vitro digestibility and gas production of rice straw silage

“…The second subsample was freeze-dried to determine dry matter (DM) content by a vacuum freeze dryer (Freeze Dryer-1A-50, Biocool Laboratory Instrument Co., Ltd, Beijing, China). DM loss was measured using the formula of Li et al (2017). The solid samples were ground to pass 1-mm screen with laboratory knife mills (FW100, Taisite Instrument Co., Ltd., Tianjin, China) and stored for later analysis of carbohydrate components.…”

“…However, rice straw is difficult to ensile due to low sugar and high fibre content. As such, great efforts have been made to improve the quality of straw silage by supplying fermented sugar by all means (Zhang et al 2010;Li et al 2017).…”