Effects of Different Moisture Levels and Additives on the Ensiling Characteristics and In Vitro Digestibility of Stylosanthes Silage

Abstract

The present study aims to estimate the dynamic effects of moisture levels and inoculants on the fermentation quality and in vitro degradability of Stylosanthes silage. In this experiment, Stylosanthes was ensiled with (1) no additive (control), (2) Lactobacillus plantarum (LP), (3) Lactobacillus plantarum carrying heterologous genes encoding multifunctional glycoside hydrolases (xg), or (4) LP + xg and was wilted until different moisture levels (60% and 72%) were attained. The ensiled bags were unpacked after different storage periods to determine the chemical composition and fermentation quality of the Stylosanthes silage. Moreover, the in vitro degradability was also determined 45 days after the ensiling process. The results show that the silage prepared with freshly mowed Stylosanthes also had a lower pH and NH3- N content. Adding transgenic engineered lactic acid bacteria xg not only decreased the NDF and ADF content of the silage, but also improved the in vitro digestibility significantly. We concluded that the addition of xg to Stylosanthes silage can improve its quality and increase in vitro digestibility and gas production. The results provide technical support and a theoretical basis for the utilization of warm-season forage silage.

The Effects of Lactobacillus Plantarum and Cellulase on Mixed Silages of Amaranthus Hypochondriacus and Corn Meal: Fermentation Characteristics, Nutritional Value and Aerobic Stability

“…This may reflect the fact that the added fibrocystic enzymes increased the hydrolysis of cell wall carbohydrates, decreased their fiber content, and increased the WSC content. This result is in agreement with the findings of Foster et al that the addition of cellulase to warm-season legumes and Bahia grass silage increased WSC content [35,38].…”

“…At W3, in vitro digestibility was significantly increased in mixed silage under E and M treatments compared with U and L treatments. So we can infer that in vitro digestibility and NDF and ADF contents were negatively correlated, and our conclusions were the same as those of Bao et al [35].…”

“…W1 reduced the levels of ADF and ADL compared to W2 and W3. This is due to the increase of raw material leading to higher WSC content, and lower NDF and ADF levels in silage [35]. It was demonstrated that high-moisture silage tends to have higher cellulose digestibility.…”

Effect of waste mango silage on the in vitro gas production, in situ digestibility, intake, apparent digestibility, and ruminal characteristics in calf diets

“…The decrease in detergent fiber degradation is related to the reduced starch availability when the amount of corn is reduced, and mango silage is increased. The values of detergent fiber degradation in the treatments ( Table-4 ) can be attributed to the fact that the hay used in making the waste mango silage received a chemical treatment with lactic acid to improve the availability of structural carbohydrates attached to lignin [ 31 ].…”

Fermentation dynamics and quality of maize silage with Pigeon pea

“…This reduction in digestibility is owing to the higher fibrous fractions present in the thatch of this legume, which contribute to the reduction in digestibility. Bao et al (2022) evaluated the effect of different moisture contents and additives on silage characteristics and in vitro digestibility of Stylosanthes silage and found that IVDMD was negatively correlated with NDF and ADF contents, and that the higher the fiber content, the lower the digestibility, negatively affecting the consumption of DM by animals. TDN content also reduced with increasing levels of legume in the silage (Figure 5c), with the minimum point (597 g kg -1 DM) reached at the level of 35.38% Pigeon pea addition.…”